Age of Kristina
by VanillaAshes
Summary: Sequel to Second Chance at a Family! This is from Natasha's perspective. The first two chapters are practically the introduction, just so you know. See how family-life for Clint, Natasha and Kristina works or doesn't work. What obstacles get in the way of the 'happy family'. What internal and external factors affect this 'happy family atmosphere' and how long can it last? Clintasha
1. Prologue

**Author's note:**

 **Here is the sequel to Second Chance at a Family. You don't necessarily need to read it first.**

 **This chapter is JUST an overview of what happened in Second Chance at a Family. I will post Chapter One in about 12 hours.**

Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff had a baby girl. Due to their circumstances and the dangerous jobs they both undertook, they decided to give their little girl up for adoption. Her name was Kristina. When Kristina was only three years old, her adoptive parents-carefully selected by SHIELD's top assassins-died in a car crash, raising the question of whether or not Clint or Natasha would step up and raise her. However, neither of them did. Years later, when Kristina was nine years old, she got determined to find her parents and in her methods drew a lot of attention to herself, such as managing to hire a dodgy private investigator. As she started at such a young age, she was putting herself in a lot of danger. S.H.I.E.L.D. decided to pick her up for her own protection, so they could get to the bottom of the young girl's motivation, steer her away from locating her real parents-who did not want to be found-and hopefully find her a good family with whom to live. However, upon seeing his daughter within reaching distance and knowing that she was currently in between homes, Clint decided to step forward as her father. After Clint had thoroughly questioned Kristina, for the records, they were finally properly reconnected as father and daughter, and Clint took time off from S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers so that he could focus on her and give her the stable life she deserved. Clint and Kristina got on well, daughtership coming natural to Kristina while fatherhood taking a little more trial-and-error for him. He did call Agent Hill a few times for advice, and, once he had gone past his limit, he reconnected with his ex-wife, Bobbi Morse. Bobbi served as a close friend to Clint who answered all of his questions about children and girls and helped him when he was in a bit of a pickle, having had a normal childhood in comparison to his. Meanwhile, Clint remained in contact with Natasha, who remained obstinate in her conviction that she wanted no involvement in Kristina's life and that any deviance from that would only put her in danger. After a mission brought her to his house where she accidentally came face-to-face with Kristina, Natasha knew things were suddenly more complicated. In the light of some advice from Steve, she returned tentatively to the Barton household. Clint gave Natasha an ultimatum; either commit to being a part of Kristina's life fully, or not at all-She chose the former. However, never one to settle down, Natasha left in the middle of the night for a mission without considering the emotional consequences for Kristina when she woke to find her mother gone. When Natasha finally did return, she helped Clint send Kristina to her first day of school before they were both called away on what was supposed to be a quick, emergency mission with the Avengers to recover Loki's scepter. During this mission against the Hydra compound, Clint was gravely injured and transported to Avengers Tower for placement in Dr. Cho's machine while Natasha left to pick up Kristina from school. On the journey to the Avengers Tower, Natasha couldn't help but think-even under the circumstances-that this was her second chance at having a family with Clint and Kristina.


	2. Chapter One

**Author's note: Welcome!**

 **This chapter will quickly cover over AoU, so spoiler alert. I hope you enjoy this chapter and live up to the expectations for the sequel.**

 **Without further ado!**

Natasha's hand remained on Kristina's shoulder from the moment they got out of the car and made their way into Stark's building.

"This is the best day ever! I get to meet Iron Man!" Kristina squealed, jumping up and down as she lets Natasha guide her. She suddenly looked up at Natasha, "After the day I met you and Dad, of course. You two are the best!"

Natasha smiled down at her, "Try to contain your excitement; Stark is already egotistical and obnoxious."

Kristina giggled, "Will Steve be there?"

"Yes, Steve will be there," Natasha confirmed, for the umpteeth time.

Kristina only grinned in response as they walked into the elevator and remained in silence as their rode it up. However the silence barely lasted when the doors opened. A loud squeak emerged from Kristina as she sprinted from the elevator into the open lounge.

"Kristina-" Natasha started, but stopped as she allowed her to run off and straight into Steve.

Steve bent down and caught Kristina in a hug, be said something to her which Natasha couldn't hear or read his lips due to Kristina's head in the way. Although she quickly worked out what was conversed when Steve pointed up to where Clint was and Kristina took off in that direction.

Natasha made haste to follow Kristina, keeping a distinct eye on her. She observed how Clint was sitting up and no longer on the machine. Also, how quickly he reacted when Kristina appeared in his view. She stopped following them when Clint was the one who seemed more eager to see her, and picked her up as he hugged her. She could see the urgency in Clint's movements as he embraced their daughter; something she has never observed from Clint before. Something she had never understood before until now. She noticed Steve watching her and turned to follow Kristina up to see Clint, she was curious to see if he really was healed.

Clint looked up at her, a knowing smirk on his face. Natasha frowned, she really hated that guy. "You took your time, Tasha." He teased as he let out a laugh.

Natasha sighed, "You make it really hard not to hurt you sometimes."

Clint's laughter rang through her ears as Kristina hugged him again, "Don't worry, I'll protect you." She promised, sticking her tongue out at Natasha.

Natasha rested a hand against her heart, pretending to be offended.

"I guess we know who her favourite Avenger is," Tony said as he walked into the room, making sure his presence was known.

"IT'S IRON MAN!" Kristina squealed as she released Clint and turned her full and complete focus to the newest arrival in the room.

Stark smirked, "A fan of mine?" he asked. And when Kristina eagerly nodded, his smirk only grew, "Let me show you around then."

Natasha laughed when it was suggested that she should attempt to pick up Mjolnir, Thor's Hammer. "I don't need that question answered," She laughed. Out of everybody in the room, she was definitely the least worthy of the all, she was tainted before she could even remember. She shook her head in disgruntled amusement as Thor throws the hammer up with ease and caught it. She rolled her eyes at Thor's comment about them all not being worthy and she couldn't help agree with Clint, there was some sort of trick with the hammer. Barely a second of laughter later, the atmosphere in the room shifted, her eyes focused as she placed her alcoholic drink down and picked up three knives hidden in her boot.

"How can you be worthy?" The robot asked as it continued rabbiting on, revealing along the way that Stark had created him. Couldn't Stark leave anything alone. As the robots attacked and the fighting began, Natasha's training and natural defenses kicked in. Her first thought after falling through the glass and landing hard on the surface below with Banner.

"Don't turn green," Natasha spluttered out urgently, she couldn't have a repeat of last year.

"I won't," Banner replied, although Natasha wasn't sure if she believed him. She needed to keep him out of the way to avoid him turning. As she pushed him up the stairs, a voice pulled her out her automatic responses.

"Kristina! Get out of here!" Clint called from the other side of the room, his voice filled with a large amount of concern and pain. Natasha turned suddenly, following Clint's gaze to see Kristina only a couple metres from her; she had obviously woken up from wherever Clint had put her down for the night and followed the noise.

Natasha sprang into action after a moment of hesitation when a robot turned on Kristina, she jumped and skidded down the stairs, launching herself at Kristina to send them both flying away from the robot. She wrapped one arm around Kristina's waist as she grabbed a wall to slow them both down and steady them. Her eyes found Clint's and with a nod and jerk of the head, Natasha pulled Kristina with her before pushing her half towards Clint, half out of the window. She allowed herself the extra two seconds to watch Clint jump out of the window-his bow around his shoulder as he held onto the end of the rope-and catch Kristina. They steadied themselves before Clint took them both into the building opposite, out of immediate danger.

She turned back to the 'party' and without a hint of hesitation began fighting. This was her element, this is what she knew, this is what she was good at.

After the robots had been defeated-at least for now- she called Clint, and after a few sentences, she hung up. She walked over to Steve, "How is Falcon with kids?"

Natasha stood at the edge of Stark's balcony, she waited for the arrow to fly past her head and imbed itself into the wall behind her. She threw a sturdy piece of material around the base of it, and slide across the steel rope connecting the arrow to Clint's hand. She slid to a stop, thankful for Clint's hand on her arm to assist in steadying her- she had gone a bit too fast.

Clint and Natasha shared a look, before she knelt down in front of Kristina, "You are going to stay with Sam Wilson for a little while, okay? He's a good friend of ours."

"What? No!" Kristina instantly protested, her eyes wide and her cheeks still stained with tears from the whole commotion earlier.

"Just a few days while your father and I sort out this Ultron stuff; it's for your protection," Natasha told Kristina, her hands holding her daughter's arms comfortingly and ready to pull them both to safety, if Ultron decided to return and attack them again.

"No, I want to stay with you!" Kristina cried, horror in her voice at being sent away.

"Kristina, this isn't a negotiation; Sam is a good man," Natasha replied. Kristina threw herself forward and hugged her tightly, tears falling out of her eyes again. In return, Natasha patted her back and waited slightly stiffly for the hug to be over. She turned her head to Clint as approached them and gently pried Kristina out of her arms.

"I'll take you to the safe house," Clint said as Kristina finally allowed herself to be fully taken away from Natasha and grabbed ahold of him instead, hoping to get him to stay with her.

"Please don't send me away! I'll be good!" Kristina protested loudly.

"It's just for a few days Kristina," Clint replied, picking her up.

Natasha touched Clint's shoulder as she walked past them, she had said what she needed to and told Kristina that she was going on a mission; just like she promised. She now needed to move on, focus and work out exactly what they are up against. She hears Kristina's protests as she walked off, but didn't even glance back.

Natasha's eyes were closed, although she wasn't sleeping, her legs were stretched out in front of her, resting on the dash of the car. One hand was resting across her waist, the other gently holding the hand of the door. Her body was relaxed and worn out, she could sleep for a few days. Clint was currently driving, they had contacted Sam Wilson-AKA the Falcon- and he agreed to bring Kristina back home tomorrow. His expected time arrival was early afternoon. Natasha liked that answer, she was a lot better at relaxing when she was alone or with somebody she completely trusted- and Clint made it onto that list, Kristina did not. She felt a gentle hand touch her arm, her whole body tightened and stiffed instantly for a mere second before relaxing as she opened her eyes and tilted her head to the side to look at Clint.

"We're nearly there," Clint informed her, even though there wasn't really a point to him informing her of that little fact. Natasha frowned softly as she set her gaze to the road ahead of her; Clint wanted to talk.

"About eight minutes away if you keep to the speed limit," Natasha commented, she glanced at his dashboard before adding. "Which you are."

"No point getting a speeding ticket- pretty sure that could reveal our location, especially this close to our home," Clint replied. Natasha allowed herself to nod once in acknowledgement of his words, although she was waiting for him to say what he wanted to say. "Are you remaining in the Avengers?" he quired.

Natasha took her time to answer, she glanced at him, meeting his eyes for a split second before looking back at the road, "Yes." She answered simply. From his silence she knew that he wanted her to elaborate more. And after four minutes, she did. "You quit, which means you can stay with Kristina. You did say you wanted one of us to be with her at all time- starting now- it doesn't make sense for both of us to quit; I am sure one of us needs to be making a living." Natasha saw his nod out of the corner of her eye, she wasn't actually sure what he was thinking, whether he expected her to quit too or find a 'safer' job. Either way, she didn't care nor ask, and he didn't elaborate on his original question.

They pulled into their garage less than two minutes later, Natasha slowly brought her legs down and undid the seatbelt, her body was actually aching; she was mentally debating whether to have a long hot bath and then go sleep or go sleep and then have a long hot bath. She decided on the later when she reached the front door and unlocked it. Instinctually, she surveyed the whole house, her body alert and ready to attack any intruder. After a few short minutes, she met Clint in the bedroom, he had obviously been doing the same thing. They both stripped, and out of slight modesty and the chance that Sam and Kristina could arrive before they wake up, they actually bothered to pull some pyjamas on. Natasha simply pulled on some shorts and a strappy top, whereas Clint barely managed to pull on pyjama bottoms before collapsing on the bed.

The covers were pulled over them lazingly before they both allowed sleep to overcome their bodies-Even though it was actually only 9 P.M.-letting the whole world and surroundings disappear. Although, they both knew that one sound would wake them up instantly, they both hoped that there would be no interruptions.

The morning melted together, both Clint and herself had woken up after nearly eleven hours of sleep, waking up just before 8 A.M. It was inevitable that they both woke up at the same time, because one movement from the other would wake the other up regardless. The moved in unison, making their way into the bathroom, brushing their teeth and other normal morning things. Then Clint wandered downstairs to the kitchen to grab some food for them both as Natasha ran the bath. He returned and they both ate microwavable porridge, which was probably one of the only things which had not expired which could truly be considered as breakfast. They both managed to time finishing eating expertly, as Natasha finished the bath, the bubbles threatening to spill over. Although there was a precise amount of hot water in the tub, which allowed for both of their bodies to sink into the tub without any water over-spilling on the floor.

It wasn't until 10 A.M. that Sam informed them he was on his way, which gave them between three and fours hours until they arrived; it was a long-ish drive. In that time, Clint went shopping to resupply the food, and Natasha gave the house a good clean. After that was finished, they were both relaxing on the couch, each still sore-although, Clint was probably a bit more sore, even though he had gone onto Dr. Cho's machine again to heal his wound to his stomach- when they heard the car pull up. Natasha stood up, she held her hand out to help Clint stand, wanting him to keep his energy for the reunion with Kristina; neither of them could completely predict how she would react. She could be extremely excited to being back with them, or hate them for sending her away and potentially 'abandoning' her. It had taken longer than either of them anticipated, lasting a total of nine days. However, once they had started their fight against Ultron, they couldn't stop, especially after her mind was taken over.

Clint was the one who pulled the door open, when they got a few feet from it, and in a heartbeat Kristina had literally jumped on him, "You're alive!" she squeaked. Her arms tightly around Clint and it looked like she had no intention of letting go of him. She observed the tight face Clint pulled before he managed to hide his expression; she was causing him pain. And regardless of the pain, he was still hugging her back.

Natasha stepped forward, deciding to save Clint from the painful huge and stepped forward, she knelt down and placed her hand on Kristina's shoulder, "How have you been?" she asked. Although, it wasn't really a question, it was more making her presence fully aware to the nine year old. Her plan worked as Kristina turned suddenly and threw her arms around her neck, hugging her tightly. She received a thankful glance from Clint before she stood up and picked Kristina up as she hugged her back. She walked them both over to the couch and sat down, placing Kristina beside her although, not releasing her from the hug. Clint turned his attention to Sam, who wasn't actually able to stay, he was going to resume helping Steve to hunt for Bucky.

After he left, accepting the gift basket of food Clint had brought for him as a thanks, Clint sat next to Kristina, rubbing her back slightly and putting on a children's movie. Although, he put one on that didn't have any singing and was _almost_ manageable. Almost. They barely did anything else for the remaining of the day, apart from order pizza and assure Kristina they wouldn't be leaving her again or leaving her with somebody she didn't know. It seemed like a long night with Kristina being clingy, but thankfully, her and Clint managed to get to bed early, ready for another long sleep.

 **Please review, next chapter should be up within a week :)**


	3. Chapter Two

**Author's Comment:**

 **Massive thank you to the lovely response I have already received! It fills my heart with joy and happiness! Thank you to the three amazing individuals who reviewed and left me such kind words: discordchick; Sanctuaria; LittleeOne.**

 **I hope you like this next chapter**

Natasha and Clint sighed simultaneously when Kristina started making a scene outside her school gate. She had loved her first day at school- however, she hadn't been back since, because of Ultron and staying with Sam. Natasha pulled her to the side, to offer them at least a little bit of privacy, "Kristina, you told me that you liked school."

"But- you could go on a mission and get hurt again or- or-" Kristina started, her voice panicked and higher than usually, she was obviously starting to panic over the possibilities of them leaving her again.

"We won't. I promise you that neither your father or I will go on a mission today," Natasha said, managing to make eye-contact with Kristina.

"And we _both_ will be here to pick you up," Clint added calmly, kneeling down beside Natasha. They were an united force.

Kristina looked down, sniffling slightly, "Do you promise?" she asked in a small voice.

Natasha knew that Kristina felt defeated, like she didn't have a say in her life right now and had to follow orders. She fell silent, not wanting to be the one who was taking away her free-will. Before she graduated from Red Room, before she was supposedly made unable to have children, she had told herself that she would never make her children do anything they didn't want to do. That was when she had hope of escaping and having a family- although, that dream was completely gone from her. And when she had finally left KGB and left with Clint to join S.H.I.E.L.D., the prospect of children was nowhere on her mind. And she knew that even if she was able to have children, that she wouldn't want them. Although, here she was, in front of her daughter, forcing her to go to school when she obviously didn't want to. It turns out that it doesn't matter what you plan, or want when you are younger; everybody has to do things they don't want. She didn't release that she had actually fallen quiet for a considerably amount of time, until Clint's voice cracked through her mind.

"We promise," Clint said clearly.

Kristina looked at him, she looked back at Natasha, waiting for the same response. Natasha knew that she had originally directed the question at her and after a while, Clint had answered for her. But now she had to officially make a promise to not go on a mission if asked, that was a big deal, "Kristina, we'll both be right here." She said, avoiding promising anything, just in case. However, Kristina had another idea.

"You promise?" She repeated.

Natasha relented, "I promise your father and I will be here to pick you up from school- if you go in now."

Kristina quickly grabbed her bag and ran into the school yard. Natasha and Clint shared a glance, "That actually worked." Clint said, not bothering to hide his surprise.

"Even I wasn't expecting _that_ to work," Natasha admitted as they both stood up and watched for ten before until Kristina had lined up and made her way into the school building before leaving.

They had instantly driven back home, both determined to relax for a while; although, they both knew that it wouldn't be long before Natasha started working out.

They walked into the house and separated, Clint headed into the kitchen when Natasha headed upstairs.

It was nearly 20 minutes later when Natasha reappeared after taking a quick shower and changing into something a bit more flexible and comfortable. She found Clint on the couch, a documentary on the TV and a small range of food on the table in front of him.

Natasha strode over to him, grabbing a bread roll and eating it without adding any fillings. As she sat down, her focus flickered towards the TV, curious to see what Clint had chosen to watch. After a few moments, she turned to him, "Is this a documentary about pigeons?"

Clint nodded slowly, "It was on when I turned the TV on." He answered as he handed her the control. Natasha accepted it and started flicking, eventually stopping on a random program, as she had given up on finding anything of interest to her. Clint looked at her questioning for a moment before shrugging it off and watching the program, now it was his time to question her choice, "Is this a program about serial killers?"

Natasha shrugged, "Appears to be." She replied. She finished her bread roll and leant back against the cushions, "I honestly cannot see how you are able to live here and do _nothing_."

"I'm not doing nothing, I'm raising our daughter," Clint replied calmly.

"Yeah, but she's at school a lot or sleeping- what do you do then?" Natasha questioned.

Clint glanced at her before turning his attention to the TV, "Yeah, it _is_ rather boring." He admitted.

"Why don't you do something, instead of just- sitting here at home," Natasha suggested as she placed her outstretched legs onto the coffee table.

"You want me to get a job?" Clint inquired, his brow furrowing at her suggestion.

Natasha looked at him, a smile on her lips, "They are rebuilding S.H.I.E.L.D., I know you left the Avengers, but that doesn't stop you from joining S.H.I. . again. You could do an office job or even work from home- I know Coulson contacted you."

Clint focused on the TV for a few minutes before finally looking at her, "I really wish you would stop listening in on my calls."

"Why would I do that? You have very interesting conversations with Bobbi sometimes-"

"Are you going to act jealous?"

"I don't get jealous," Natasha retorted instantly, her eyes daring him to continue with this line of teasing.

"Sure you don't. Why don't I invite her over then?" Clint suggested, pulling out his phone to make a statement.

"Go for it, I'd love to see her again," Natasha replied. They both maintained eye contact, waiting to see who broke first. After a good half an hour, and a new program started, Natasha smirked and broke eye contact. Although, before Clint could relish in his accomplishment, she had pulled out her phone and dialed Bobbi. "Bet you forgot Bob and I are friends too." She replied, her smirk growing.

Clint cursed under his breath, "She's busy with Hunter." He hissed.

Natasha was curious as to what Clint meant by 'busy with Hunter'. As in she had gotten back together with him? Or was she stuck on a ship with no way out and forced to spend time with him? Was she currently attempting to refrain from killing him, or was she busy with him in bed? There were many possibilities of what 'busy with Hunter' could mean. Although, she did not have enough time to inquire as Bobbi answered the phone, she simply muttered, "All the better." She could just ask extract the details from Bobbi, after all, she absolutely despised uncertainties and she made it her mission to get to the bottom of what was going on with Hunter. "Hey Bob, it's Tasha."

Natasha had gone through with Clint's threat and invited Bobbi to come over. They had ended up talking for nearly thirty minutes before Bobbi was convinced and they managed to arrange everything else within five minutes. It was definitely last minute and there was absolutely no real reason for Bobbi to randomly come over, especially as it now meant she needed to fly out to them, but Bobbi had just found out that Fury was still alive and S.H.I.E.L.D. was now apparently undergoing a change in its ranks, so now was a probably the best time in weeks to randomly disappear for a night. It was decided that she would spend the night and return back to base the following morning.

Bobbi arrived around 2 P.M., giving them over an hour to catch up on general things, mainly a discussion about any missions they all were cleared to discuss, everything that happened with Ultron and what is happening with S.H.I. .. They all knew, that once Kristina was home, they wouldn't be able to have this sort of conversation; just in case, Clint had informed Bobbi how much of a blabber-mouth Kristina was.

Natasha was a tad hesitant to allow Bobbi to remain at the house alone, but she did in fact trust the other woman regardless of everything that had gone down with them. She would have stayed behind had she not promised Kristina; she knew she shouldn't have made that promise, it's never good or productive to make promises.

Thankfully the pickup was quick and stress free, Kristina ran out, excited that they were both actually there and just talked about everything she did at school on the journey back. Clint and Natasha allowed her to talk and didn't interrupt her at all, not even to give her a forewarning about who was waiting at home to meet her. As they parked up, Natasha wondered if Kristina would continue talking or stop, she continued. It seemed she wanted to tell them every single detail from her seven hours at school.

Natasha looked at Clint, tilting her head towards Kristina asking if they should tell her about Bobbi before they got out of the car. Clint simply shook his head, a smirk curving at his lips. The two of them walked in silence towards the door and into the house, both smiling at Bobbi as they walked in.

Kristina followed them in, "...And then we switched to English, which was amazing, because the teacher just talked about books the entire time! And then she told us to read part of the book and write about it for homework! Isn't that the best homework ever- Who's she? You're not leaving me with a stranger again, are you?" She asked, her eyes widening and her voice instantly turning panicked when she noticed Bobbi.

"Kristina, this is Bobbi-"

"Your Bobbi? Bobbi from the phone, Bobbi?" Kristina asked, interrupting Clint.

"Yes-" Clint started, but was quickly interrupted again by Kristina's squeak as she ran over to Bobbi, instantly throwing her arms around her.

Bobbi laughed and hugged Kristina back without reservation. She sent a smile up at Clint and Natasha before releasing Kristina and standing up straight, "Nice to finally put a face to the voice."

Kristina grinned in response, "Hi!" she squeaked.

Natasha was tempted to roll her eyes at the exchangement, even though it was very cute, she felt her gut clench. She was reminded why she had been jealous of Bobbi in the first place, Bobbi was normal and could easily accomplish what she couldn't. She was always capable of having children and giving Clint the family he wanted and deserved. She was always much better at relating to others, especially children, so much so that Clint openly called her for advice on Kristina, even though she has no children. Natasha understood why, Bobbi grew up in a nice household, she had a normal childhood-whatever that meant. Natasha always felt that Clint deserved more, somebody better than herself, a normal family; like he had always dreamed. Natasha looked at Kristina, she _had_ given Clint a family, a daughter, but it was nowhere near what he had envisioned nor what he deserved. He didn't deserve to find out about being a father hours before the birth of his child or for the mother of that child to give or even think about giving the child up. Natasha knew that Bobbi always wanted to have one or two children, she had shared that information years ago. And Natasha had a strong feeling that she wouldn't ever in danger her unborn child by going on a mission she knew was dangerous at seven months pregnant. Clint deserved somebody like Bobbi, anybody who had seen the two of them together before they ended things, would understand Natasha's reasoning. But they had broken up and Natasha and Clint had gotten together. Clint was technically with her, they had this little family which would never expand and Bobbi had moved on, started a new life with Lance Hunter. Although, that didn't quite work out how it had been planned. Still, even after being jealous of how right Bobbi was for Clint, she still considered Bobbi to be her friend; they had each other's backs.

"When did you get here? Why are you here? How long will you be here for?" Kristina questioned, standing directly in front of Bobbi looking up at her expectantly.

"I got here earlier today, I am here because your mother invited me, and I will be going home tomorrow morning," Bobbi answered in order of her questioning. Much like Natasha had observed Clint answering.

Clint's hand grazed over her back softly as he walked past her into the kitchen, probably to work out what to cook for dinner later.

"Can't you stay forever?" Kristina asked Bobbi.

She laughed. "Sorry, not forever. Besides, you'd get bored of me, I promise."

"I'd never get bored of you! It's impossible to get bored of family," Kristina informed Bobbi seriously.

Natasha looked up at Bobbi, watching the hint of confusion touch her face, but it would be easy to miss. It took a few moments before Bobbi's eyes lightened with the understanding that to Kristina, Bobbi _was_ her family, she was her aunt. "Oh, of course you're right," she smiled. "I could never get bored of you either."

"Of course not, we're family," Kristina replied, turning and looking at Natasha, who instantly nodded and agreed with her. Kristina turns back to Bobbi when she started to talk again.

"Your dad tells me that you still love asking questions. Have you got any for me?" Bobbi questioned, gandering a quick look at Natasha when Kristina nodded eagerly. "Fire away!"

Natasha sat down on one of the chairs, leaning back and relaxing, she couldn't wait to see what kind of questions Kristina decided to ask and how Bobbi would respond.

Kristina thought for a moment, "Are you a spy? Or an Avenger? Oooh! Do you have a cool nickname like my Mom and Dad does?" She asked quickly, barely breathing between the questions.

Bobbi glanced at Natasha before replying, she took Natasha's nonverbal warning and reminded that Kristina was a blabber-mouth, but the smirk on her face was permission enough to answer how she felt. "Well, if I was a spy, I couldn't tell you, because it would be a secret," she teased. "But no, I'm not an Avenger like your parents. I have worked with them in the past, though."

When Kristina continued waiting, Natasha spoke up, "You forgot her last question- Just continue Kris."

Kristina waited a second but continued nevertheless, "Do you have a boyfriend? Is that why you have to go home tomorrow? Do you have children? Can I stay at yours for a sleepover sometime?" she asked.

"I- In a way, I do have a boyfriend; his name's Lance," Bobbi told her as she sat herself down on the couch. "I have to go home tomorrow because of work, not because of him. I don't have any children-that's why I was so excited to meet you today. And of course, you're welcome at my place anytime, Kristina!"

Natasha cleared her throat, "Yes, when Bobbi has a _house_ , you are welcome to stay over at hers." She emphasised, knowing that at the moment, Bobbi was staying at headquarters or with S.H.I. .. Therefore, if she wanted Kristina to have a 'sleepover', she would need to arrange a safe house.

"Can I go tomorrow?" Kristina inquired instantly

"No, we've just got back here and you have school tomorrow," Natasha answered without missing a beat.

Kristina looked like she was about to sigh, but seemed to decide that she would rather stay here tomorrow because she looked back at Bobbi, "Soon though. Can you bring Lance here? I want to meet him!"

Bobbi shared a glance with Natasha, it was mostly filled with amusement over Kristina's line of questioning. "Maybe someday, but for right now he's pretty busy."

"Too busy to see me?" Kristina asked, pouting her lip out and looking up at Bobbi with wide sad eyes. Natasha smiled, she had taught Kristina this pout technique, which worked perfectly against Clint.

"Things are crazy at work right now," Bobbi told her gently. "But as soon as everything settled down, we'll come visit you together."

"You promise?" Kristina asked seriously.

"I promise," Bobbi replied, not letting her voice show any of the discomfort she felt as making the statement.

Kristina squeaked with joy, instantly jumping towards her and hugging her, "Thank you!"

Bobbi laughed, hugging her back. "You're welcome. Now, I hear you went back to school for the first time in a little while today. How was that?"

"It was great! So, I was nervous when they dropped me off, because last time bad things happened, but I trusted them and they promised they would be there after school; and they were. So, the first class was-" Kristina started.

Natasha stood up, zoning Kristina's voice out, she has already heard in detail what she had done at school and didn't need to hear it again. Besides, she felt like leaving Bobbi and Kristina to have their own conversation.

She wandered down the hall, realising that Clint was not in the kitchen, she ventured upstairs and found him in their bedroom. "What are you doing?" she inquired, her eyes scanning over his body for injuries or discomfort.

Clint was uncharacteristically laying down on the bed in the early afternoon, one arm was covering his eyes whilst the other laid by his side. He removed his arm only when she spoke, but it was obvious he was ready to attack the approaching footsteps, "Resting." He replied.

"It's not even 4 P.M." Natasha informed him as she sat on the edge of the bed, she prodded his stomach.

Clint took her head, "Stop poking me." He said lazily.

Natasha stopped, allowing her hand to rest on his stomach in his hand, although the temptation was still there to poke him, "Why-"

"You know why," Clint interrupted, looking her straight in the eyes.

"It wasn't your fault, Clint," Natasha informed him, she knew this conversation was going to come up. Did she expect it to happen in the middle of the day when Bobbi and Kristina were downstairs, no, but nevertheless, she was ready. But she also knew Clint needed to go through this in his own time and pace.

"He was saving _my_ life-"

"And you were saving that young boys life- would you change your actions?"

"No,"

"Pietro chose to help you, you can't blame yourself for what happened to him. He just wasn't fast enough."

Clint laughed and humourless laugh, "He had superspeed."

"Then he relied on that too much," Natasha replied without missing a beat, her eyes boring into his.

"He was just a kid, Tasha," Clint replied, closing his eyes and effectively breaking the eye contact between them.

Natasha sighed, "Don't beat yourself up over this, Clint." She knew he needed time to process something like this, especially after referring to Pietro as a kid- she did have to admit he _was_ really young. Too young to die. She could still remember the devastation on Wanda's face, but unlike herself, Clint took these things to heart, going over several times what he could have done differently. She had to blink away the memories of herself as a child and the many faces she had seen die. The many children, younger than Pietro, who had died, especially the ones who died because of her. She remembered how she sometimes wished she could fail, so she wouldn't have to add another face to her memory, another pleading voice. And even though her mind was messed with during her training and graduation process, she never managed to get rid of all those faces during her dreams.

She felt his hand enclosed around hers more securely and looked back at him, he had replied… but Natasha had no clue what he had said. She'd first started noticing this happening, her thoughts taking her away from reality, after Scarlet Witch played with her mind. It was disconcerting to say the least, but the effect seemed to be fading with time as Wanda promised it would.

Natasha squeezed Clint's hand, letting him know that she was back. Sometimes they'd talk for hours, sometimes he just wanted to be alone. Sometimes she just wanted to be alone. Today, she couldn't tell completely which one he wanted, but opted to leave him for now and talk to him later, "I'll order us all pizza." She told him, waiting for him to nod in confirmation. He also gave her an indication that it was alright to go, she still hadn't really spoken to him about her dreams, but had allowed him to comfort and hold her after waking up from nightmares. He was a comforting support.

She stood up, their hands still connected for a few seconds before he released her and let his arm drop back onto the bed beside him. She walked out of the room and made her way downstairs, passing the lounge and ignoring an almost pleading glance from Bobbi, who was getting a small lecture from Kristina about soulmates.

A few hours later, when the sun had set and time had turned, Clint, Natasha and Bobbi all bidded Kristina a good night from her bedroom door. Clint was the only one to fully approach her bed, Natasha knew she was acting slightly more clingy and indicated for Bobbi to leave them alone. Both herself and Bobbi made their way back down the stairs into the kitchen.

"You and Hunter back together?" Natasha inquired, she had been curious since Bobbi had named him as her boyfriend earlier in the day. When Bobbi didn't instantly reply, she added, "Or did you lie to my daughter?"

"I didn't lie, not completely. We _had_ made up-"

"Again."

"But-"

"You broke up again," she stated, it didn't take a super-spy to know what was coming.

"It was my fault," Bobbi finished. They both looked at each other as Natasha brought out some red wine, pouring them both a glass.

"I'm listening," Natasha commented as she sipped her wine and seated herself on the counter.

Bobbi shook her head as her hand enclosed around the glass, "After he found out I lied and potentially caused him to be in a dangerous situation- he gave me an out." she looked up at Natasha directly, "He asked me to- for lack of a better word- run away with him. Leave S.H.I.E.L.D. behind and start a new life with him."

Natasha turned her undivided attention to her, "You didn't say yes?"

"I didn't say anything," Bobbi admitted. "I couldn't say no- but at the same time, I couldn't say yes. Have you ever been tempted to leave S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

Natasha stared at Bobbi for a moment, not changing her expression, she allowed herself to nod, "Yes." The tone in her voice declared that she would not elaborate on that confession.

Bobbi nodded as she sighed, the silence filling between them for a few minutes, "Kristina seems like a lovely girl."

"Yes, she is," Natasha replied before she took another sip of her wine, Bobbi copying her movements. "She _really_ likes you."

"Is there anybody she doesn't like?" Bobbi asked.

Natasha almost laughed in response to that question, "Not that I've met. She's way too trusting; it's going to get her killed."

"Thankfully, you and Clint are here to protect her then," Bobbi replied. Natasha frowned slightly in response to that remark, she didn't want anybody to depend on her, "Anyway, how are you and Clint?"

Natasha openly glared at Bobbi, "I am not-"

"I told you about Hunter, it's only fair," Bobbi responded.

"I'll answer if you tell me why you address Hunter by his last name and Barton by his first," Natasha countered. She watched as Bobbi processed the question, her expression barely changing.

"It's how I was first introduced to them," Bobbi replied, looking at Natasha directly in the eyes, daring her to call her a liar on the matter.

"I thought Hunter introduced himself as the prince of England" Natasha countered, not backing down.

"He did- But I already knew his name before I met him and it didn't take training to know he was lying," Bobbi replied.

Natasha blinked, a sign that she resided in the small challenge and took a sip of wine before finally answering Bobbi's question, "It's complicated."

"Relationships always are," Bobbi replied.

Natasha took a sip of her wine as she walked over to the couch and sat down, bring the bottle of wine with her, "I'm not entirely sure what type of relationship status we would fall under."

Bobbi had followed her and sat beside her, "How do you mean?"

"There isn't really a S.H.I.E.L.D. and he's quit the Avengers, so he's not my partner or teammate. We aren't officially dating, engaged or married. I don't actually live here…" Natasha drifted off, after proving her point that there wasn't really a term to declare that status of her relationship.

"I guess you and Clint need to talk," Bobbi replied. Natasha simply shrugged in response. "Did you want to be in a rela-"

"Bob," Natasha said, interrupting her. "I am not in any fit state to make any decisions, I've been compromised." She informed her friend flatly, halting the discussion about herself and Clint.

Bobbi nodded and without any hesitation began to talk, "I was thinking about dying my hair brown or something that isn't blonde."

"To annoy Hunter?" Natasha asked rhetorically, as they both knew the answer to that question.

Bobbi laughed before she looked out of the door leading into the hallway at the same time as Natasha heard Clint make his way down towards them.

 **A review would be most appreciated! I'd love to know you thoughts on the chapter and what you would like to see happen!**


	4. Chapter Three

**Author's note:**

 **Let's start my round of thank you's with my lovely beta: Sanctuaria!**

 **Thank you very much to the wonderful two readers who reviewed my last chapter: discordchick and sanctuaria! It means so much to know what you think :D**

 **A shout out to all of you who Favourited or are following this story: KarolRodrigues; LittleeOne; PRISHAMITTAL; TTYLXOXO; emmapemaberg; Aubrey Etta; Fury-Natalia; ; Sanctuaria; crazylost; .**

Natasha and Clint were staring at one another intensely, not letting the other out of their sight. Natasha went to step forward, her thigh muscles tensing, but stopped when she saw him ready to retract away from her. He knew her too well for a simple attack. With a controlled step, she moved to the side, watching as he matched her movements and pace perfect, keeping them directly opposite each other maintaining a distance of three metres.

Natasha dropped to the floor as his arm moved, the knife embedding itself into the wall behind where she had been. In response she rolled backwards, throwing two of her own knives at him as she stood. It was anti-climatic to her; neither were sparring to injure the other and knew they would start a hand-to-hand battle soon. But the build up always thrilled her, always put her on her toes. She felt a smile come to her lips and Clint laughed at her.

"Stop smiling," he remarked, not even bothering to hide how amused he was.

Natasha pursed her lips slightly. She used to hate that he laughed at her, but over time she actually started to like it. She knew he was laughing at her for enjoying the fight, but she also knew he loved the small smiles she would give during them. "You smile too," she reminded him. She has seen him smile on several occasions when he spotted or hit his target. Clint simply smirked in response before they both struck.

Each of their fists contacted with the other's arm, right before Natasha's knee hit Clint's thigh. Natasha grunted as he grabbed her leg, pulling it towards him slightly before pushing it outwards, she used the momentum and aimed a punch to his temple-He blocked it. Their eyes met for a mere second before an understand overcome them: _upper-body only_. They both know that Natasha could easily flip over and break somebody's neck with her legs. She could do that in her sleep. Having restrictions on what you could do always made things more challenging, it involved more thought and less instinct. She accepted his challenge with a smack of her arm against his, followed by a swift feint to the abdomen masking her true attack on the back of the neck. She was careful to remember to soften her blow to nothing more than a light tap while they were sparring when dealing with necks, but the point became moot as he twisted and caught her arm.

For the minutes that followed, the soles of their feet didn't exceed a centimeter from the ground. Fists connected with bare skin, elbows jabbed painfully into ribs, backs, and stomachs. Hands grabbed and clawed arms as they each attempted to throw the other down onto the mat. Natasha felt Clint's hand around her upper arm and knew he was about to swing her, she was ready to counter it when his movements halted. Taking the advantage and mentally thanking whatever distracted him, she twisted, grabbed in wrist and arm simultaneously before tumbling him onto his back. He became alert when she started moving and pulled her down on top of him. As they landed, she grabbed his wrists to hold him down, but stopped mid-grab— catching sight of what had distracted him. Kristina.

Kristina's head was poked through the bottom of the door, she was obviously crouched or laying down and watching them. Her eyes went wide when both Clint and Natasha looked directly at her and disappeared back into the lounge. Natasha and Clint looked at each other, a sigh leaving her lips as she pushed against his chest to stand up and pulled him up. She took a swig of water and stepped on the treadmill, "Have fun."

"Dinner in 40," Clint replied as he checked the time whilst collecting a towel for his sweat and a bottle of water before making his way up the stairs. Natasha absentminded waved off the information as she set the machine to a steady seven miles per hour and began a gentle run.

The next few hours was rather uneventful, they ate dinner and listened to Kristina talk about school. Clint then helped Kristina with whatever homework she was struggling with and hadn't finished before dinner, whilst Natasha sat at her laptop and assisted with Avenger-related things. She had gone down to the basement when Kristina started a movie, and from there she called Steve.

"Hello," Steve greeted as he answered the call.

"Just me," Natasha replied before jumping into why she called. "What's the status on the new recruits? Are they all in?"

"Yes. I just got back from visiting Wanda, and she agreed. Vision agreed straight away, as did Sam. Rhodey took some time to think it over, but agreed yesterday. When did you want to call them all in?" Steve replied.

Natasha was tempted to say immediately and was prepared to leave right then, when Clint walked down, "Kristina wants to talk to you." He informed her as he continued down the stairs.

"Let me think it over and I'll call you back," Natasha said.

"Don't forget to check with Clint," Steve said quickly before Natasha hung up on him.

"What about?" Natasha asked Clint as she slid her phone into her pocket. Clint merely shrugged and picked up his bow. She made her way up the stairs in search for her daughter. She instantly found her on the couch, "Everything okay?" she asked as she took a seat on the couch beside her.

Kristina nodded, "We just haven't talked properly, just me and you."

Natasha blinked, "You just wanted to talk- about what?" she asked. Preparing herself.

"Anything, everything," Kristina expressed, a kind, hopeful, and childish smile on her face, one barely tainted by the world around her. Even though she had been through a lot, she still didn't fully understand everything, but at the same time, she did.

"Maybe you could choose a more specific subject," Natasha suggested.

Kristina hummed as she thought for a moment, "Your favourite colour?"

Natasha blinked at the simple question, eight different ways this information could get her killed flickering through her head. Regardless, she replied. She herself, didn't even know if that was the true, honest answer, but she felt like it was, "Blue."

"Blue is a boy's colour. I like red," Kristina replied. Natasha frowned slightly, not at Kristina's comment about Natasha choosing a boy's colour. After all, she liked the colour because it reminded her of the never-ending sky, the ocean which covered most of the world, and Clint's eyes. But she frowned at Kristina's choice of colour, red, which reminded her of the Red Room, blood, and destruction. Although, she couldn't say that; it wasn't appropriate. Kristina asked another question after a few moment, she was obviously trying to work out what to ask, "Are you and Dad going to get married?"

"We are not engaged; therefore there are no plans to marry," Natasha replied simply.

"But will you ever get married? Then we'll be like a real family!" Kristina says.

Natasha looked at her face, her eyes scanning it and looking for signs regarding exactly what Kristina wanted from her, what she was expected to say. "Who do you want me to be?" she asked. It appeared Kristina wanted more than just a mother and father, but a bigger commitment. Marrying Clint and being more like a normal family was not something Natasha had agreed to when she decided to be a part of the girl's life.

Kristina's expression instantly changed to confused. Her lips parted, and it was obvious she was trying to work out what Natasha had just asked her. Natasha's gut clenched at the worry on Kristina's face when she couldn't work out firstly what she was being asked and secondly the distant tone Natasha had used.

"I used to do ballet." Natasha revealed simply, changing the subject away from marriage and what it implied as she answered Kristina's original request about knowing more about her. Ballet had been a big part of her life and even though it was used in conjunction with the Red Room training, she still loved it.

Kristina looked up, a new sort of confusion spreading across her face but it closely turned to fascination, curiosity, and wonder, "Really? You did ballet?"

"Yes," Natasha confirmed shortly, before forcing a natural-looking smile. She hated talking about anything personal, and even with her daughter she'd rather take on twenty guys with machine guns than continue this conversation.

"Can I do ballet?" Kristina asked, her face turning hopeful.

Natasha looked at Kristina, allowing a glimpse of surprise show on her face. She had known that Kristina was interesting in being exactly like her, or like the Black Widow she thought she knew about. But her being completely willing and wanting to do ballet and actually be like _her_ , Natasha, not the Black Widow, not the expectation of what her mother would be like, but her; the person who gave birth to her, the one who was sitting in front of her right now. All she had to do was tell her one thing about herself, and Kristina had jumped at the opportunity to follow in her footsteps. She smiled at Kristina as she began nodding, "Of course you can." Kristina grinned and went to hug Natasha, who stopped her.

"I don't need a hug, just a smile," she informed Kristina, who opened her mouth in surprise as a massive smile appeared on her face. She seemed genuinely happy that she didn't need to show her appreciation so publicly all the time, but it also looked like she really wanted to hug her. Natasha opened her arms, not having the will to tell Kristina she didn't actually like hugging that much, but regardless of that, she caught Kristina in the hug.

Moments later, Kristina pulled back, "Can you teach me to fight too?"

Natasha smirked, "You father said no."

"Will he say no to ballet?" Kristina asked, her eyes filling with worry at the prospect of Clint stopping her from doing this activity.

"I wasn't planning on giving him the option," Natasha informed her. "I think it's time for you to get ready for bed; your father and I will meet you up there to tuck you in in a few minutes."

Kristina nodded, she stood up and ran up the stairs, a grin still planted on her face.

Later that night found Clint and Natasha laying side by side of the bed, both breathing deeply to regain their breath after the intense and intimate moment that had just shared. Natasha recovered moments before Clint and pulled the covers over both of them, even though neither of them needed it.

"When are you leaving?" Clint asked her, she turned her head and looked at him.

Natasha didn't even question how he knew she was planning on leaving, "Soon."

"Eight days," Clint spoke.

"Why eight days?"

"Because Kristina's birthday is in seven," Clint informed her. Natasha looked away from him and up to the ceiling. She did the mental calculations, her eyebrow furrowing slightly that she had forgotten that little fact. She refused to allow herself to even register what day Kristina was born, not wanting a specific day to remind her that she had a daughter. It makes sense for her to remember it now. "And, I want you to take a little longer to recover."

"9th April," Natasha spoke Kristina's birthday. "I'll leave on the 10th then." She agreed. She looked back at Clint, not saying anything about his comment about her recovering. They both knew that she would do anything for him. Although, at the same time, they both knew Clint first priority at the moment was Kristina.

Natasha hopped onto the kitchen side as she took a bite from the red apple she was holding. "That looks disgusting," she commented as she peered into the pan.

Clint swatted her thigh with the wooden spoon. "Shut it. It's about how it tastes," he responded as he pretended to not notice the kick she landed on his knee.

"What exactly is it meant to be?" Natasha questioned, pulling a face to present she thought it looked and smelled horrible.

"Stew," Clint replied, shortly.

"I'm going to eat out," Natasha informed him.

He glared at her, his head shaking with annoyed amusement. "You like my stew."

"If you say so- you said you wanted me to be honest," Natasha replied as a smirk appeared on her lips.

"I change my mind," Clint replied as he rolls his eyes and added a few herbs and spices into the mixture.

"Mmmmm, that smells delicious! You're the best cook ever," Natasha teased. She laughed when Clint sent her a look as he stirred the food quickly before putting the lid on.

"You are a terrible actress," Clint commented as he stood square in front of her. Natasha took a final bite of her apple and threw the core in the bin. "Tell me the truth- do you like my stew?"

"Of course, best stew I've ever had," Natasha replied, a smug look on her face as she seductively rested her hands on his shoulders. "You know I love your stew."

Clint's eyes narrowed, like he was actually trying to work out if she liked his stew or not, "Fourteen years, Nat- there's no way you could have pretended to like it for fourteen years," he said, although it sounded like he was trying to reassure himself.

"If you say so," Natasha replied with a smile. He stepped forward and she moved her hands around his neck, clasping them together before using them as leverage to pull his head forward and kissed him. She felt him move closer as his hands rested on her hips. She pulled back slightly, licking her lips and his at the same time. "How long until the stew burns?" she asked.

Clint groaned, he leant his forehead forward for a moment before leaning back slightly, "About eight minutes."

Natasha nodded, "Is that our lunch? Because it seems more like dinner." she questioned, seeing as it was only 11 A. M. and Kristina was at school.

"It is for dinner, but we agreed to take Kristina to the cinema to watch that new movie she wanted. As an early birthday present," Clint reminded her.

"No, _you_ agreed," Natasha pointed out. "Besides, I've already sorted out my present for her. I don't need to torture myself with a silly child's movie."

"What did you buy her?" Clint inquired, showing curiosity and a bit of surprise.

"What did _you_ buy her?" Natasha retorted. Clint had elected to not tell her what he had brought Kristina, just wrapped it and placed it in their bedroom closet.

"Clothes and trainers, it's what she asked for," Clint replied without reservation.

"I also brought her clothing," Natasha replied. "Now, are we going to discuss birthday presents, or are you going to stir your stew?"

"What happened to multi-tasking?"

Natasha simply smirked in response, "Hurry up and finish the stew." She met his eyes and allowed the lust to show, but there was always two types of lust, one she used for a mission and one she used with him. He had learnt the difference after a few years, when the look changed as they got closer. He took the pan off boil before taking her hands and pulling her from the side. "Stew's done."

 **I would be delighted if you reviewed! See it as a belated birthday present (Which was yesterday, my time :P)!**


	5. Chapter Four

**Author's note:**

 **Hello everybody, thank you so much for reading my story! I hope you are all enjoying it!**

 **My usual round of thank you's to the amazing five individuals who took the time to review my last chapter! You guys are the best!: Fury-Natalia (Great to see you again! :D); LittleeOne (Second review on this story! :D); discordchick (You've reviewed every chapter! Eeek! You're amazing!); Sanctuaria (my amazing beta! You're the best!); Melody Jenna Plumber (Welcome to the sequel, I am so glad you are loving it!)**

 **Without further ado!**

Natasha's eyes opened as she felt Clint move on the bed beside her. He was sitting up, but it was too early for him to be getting up. "Where are you going?" she questioned.

"It's Kristina's birthday," Clint replied, as if he had given a long detailed explanation to his actions. She turned her head to look at him; he hadn't told her that he had planned anything for the morning before she went to school. "Don't children open their presents before school?" he asked, suddenly aware of her confusion.

Natasha sat up and looked at him, she had never received proper presents as a child and when she did it was during her normal training schedule. She pursed her lips slightly as she did not have any idea when the correct time to hand out birthday presents to a child is, although Kristina was born at 5:43 A.M. So she supposed that any time after that would be appropriate. She glanced at the clock and saw that it was 6:21, a whole hour before they usually woke up now. "Yes, she's ten now."

Clint nodded as he let out a breath of relief, "Great, let's get dressed and then wake her."

Natasha nodded as she slid out of bed, she stopped and looked at him, her sudden halt in movements gaining his attention, "Should we have celebrated your birthday with her?" she inquired. Clint's birthday had been a month prior, merely a week after they had stopped Ultron from destroying the world.

Clint blinked as he pondered the question, "Probably." He replied shortly before turning away from her and getting ready.

Natasha walked over to the wardrobe, forcing herself to select 'normal' clothing as she took not so secretive glances at Clint. She was not sure whether or not Clint was willing to tell anybody else when his birthday was, let alone officially celebrate it. As far as she was aware, there was only three people alive who knew Clint's real birthday; Herself, Bobbi and Clint's brother. Although, neither of them could confirm whether or not his brother was still alive, they hadn't spoken in years. "Maybe next year," she suggested off-handedly, reducing the urgency regarding it. She received a small, yet genuine smile from him before they both got fully dressed and gathered their presents for Kristina.

Natasha followed Clint into Kristina's bedroom, to see her peacefully resting on her bed, "Kristina." Clint spoke softly as he bent down onto one knee at the side of her bed, "Wake up."

Kristina rolled away from him before falling onto her back and looking at them, "Is it morning already?" she asked with a yawn as she sat up. A smile grew on her face as she woke up fully, "It's my birthday!" she announced.

"Happy birthday," Natasha and Clint said simultaneously.

Kristina grinned, "Thank you!" She then yawned again and looked at them, slight confusion setting in on her face, "Is there anything else?"

"Your birthday presents," Clint stated, placing a box onto her lap.

Kristina's eyes lit up, her lips parting in surprise before a massive smile took over her lips and she tentatively opened the box. A gasp left her lips as she laid her eyes on the clothing in the box; a dress, sports outfit and a pair of sneakers. "The clothes I asked for! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Her voice growing in squeakiness as she hugged him.

"You're welcome," Clint replied with a smile, before turning to Natasha, waiting for her to follow his lead.

Natasha forced a smile on her lips as she placed her own wrapped gift onto the bed. Where Clint had gone for a safe option and asked Kristina what she wanted, Natasha went for a mixture of Steve's suggestions and her own opinion, although, not the option which others would expect of her; the serial killer.

Kristina opened the box with a massive grin, she gasped once again, her eyes almost bulging out of her skull as her eyes landed on her present. "It's ballet clothes!"

Clint looked at Natasha, his mouth agape in utter shock, "You got her a ballet clothes?"

"Yes, Kristina and I were talking the other day and she expressed her interest in ballet. So I enrolled her at a dance school," Natasha informed him, also directing her words at Kristina before directing the words directly to Kristina. "You will do other dance techniques there too, like contemporary; it's good to have a little variety. But the majority of your lessons will be ballet."

Kristina kicked her legs in excitement, "Thank you!" she gushed, jumping up and hugging Natasha with high energy. After a few moments, she leant back and hugged Clint again, "Best birthday ever!"

"It's just begun," Clint promised her with a smile. "I have a lot planned today- of course, after you go to school."

Natasha bent down beside a sleeping Kristina, who had fallen asleep on the couch moments ago. She placed her arms under her sleeping body and picked her up.

"I'll take her up," Clint offered, walking over to her.

"It's fine- I need to say goodbye to her anyway," Natasha reminded him before carrying Kristina up to her room. She placed her onto her bed and changed her into pyjamas swiftly without disturbing the young child. Although, after she pulled the covers over the sleeping Kristina, she started to wake her up, a hand going onto her shoulder to shake her slightly, "Kristina. Kristina, wake up."

Kristina groaned as her eyes opened reluctantly, squinting under the light which entered her eyes, "Morning."

"It's not morning," Natasha informed her gently. "I have to go away for a few weeks- or months."

"You're going on a mission?"

"Yes, I'm going on a mission," Natasha replied, even though it wasn't entirely true, although she was confident that she would, in fact, be going on missions while she was away.

"Why? When are you going?"

"I'll be here in the morning, before you go to school- but I won't be here when you get back," Natasha informed her. Clint thought it was best that she told Kristina before she went to bed, so she had a bit of warning and the news wasn't thrusted upon her in the morning. Although Natasha wasn't sure that now was the best time either.

"I don't want you to go," Kristina pouted and attempted to hold back a yawn.

Natasha gave her a small hug, rubbing her back, "Go back to sleep, Kristina. We'll talk tomorrow." She said softly. She felt Kristina's arms around her, and could feel how tired she was but Kristina was determined to not fall asleep. So Natasha just sat there, rubbing her back for a further ten minutes before Kristina was fully asleep. She laid her down on the bed, pulled the covers up to her neck and walked out of the room.

Natasha sped passed the gates, barely waiting for them to open for her, and straight towards the compound in front of her. She pulled on the handles, lifting the motorcycle up onto one wheel as she came to a stop a few metres from the door which was already half open. Her gaze grazed across the compound, examining the sloped sides and straight edges before revving the engine. She allowed the motorcycle to surge forward, ripping into the compound and skidding to a stop in the center of the large room. With a calculated glance around the room she brought her hands to her helmet and slid it off, hanging it up on the handles as she swung her leg over the bike, opened the hatch and pulled out her bag. A small smile graced her lips as she walked up to Steve, who had been waiting for her and greeted him with a polite kiss on the cheek.

"Good to see you, Natasha," Steve replied with a genuine smile.

"And you," Natasha replied softly, looking around the new Avengers building. She was going to have great fun telling Clint the new location was in an 'undisclosed location'. He would act annoyed and attempt to convince her to tell him, even though they both knew he never would; it was just a bit of fun. She looked up at Steve, him being a whole foot taller than him, "Are they here yet?"

"Straight to work, I see," Steve replied in good humour. "We were just waiting for you, expected you earlier."

Natasha smirked, "Clint and I got a little carried away saying goodbye to each other."

Steve pulled a face, "I don't need any details."

Natasha laughed, "But I do- Asked out a girl yet? Have you kissed anybody? Or done more?" She asked without any restraint as she looked up at him, a smirk on her face as she noticed his cheeks reddening. "You are the age of a fossil and still blush when somebody mentions dating."

"You mentioned more than merely dating," Steve pointed out. "The team is waiting in gym three."

"Lead the way."

The initial meeting was uneventful; both Steve and Natasha had seen the recruits in action before. Vision, Scarlet Witch and War Machine had all assisted in Sokovia and aided in saving loads of innocents. Falcon wasn't in Sokovia, but they had known them the longest and knew his abilities the best. The main thing that occurred during the meeting was a schedule for the next few weeks and decided that they would start first thing the following morning with standard drills.

After the meeting, they all dispersed, Scarlet Witch offered to show Natasha to her room, as they were on the same floor. Natasha had some respect for the younger woman because she had successfully compromised her and caught her off guard; that was something that hardly anybody has ever managed to accomplished. For that, she held no bad blood against her and agreed to allow Scarlet Witch to take to her room, even though she knew where it was.

"How are you coping?" Natasha asked, not even sugar-coating the question at all. Scarlet Witch looked at her, her mouth agape slightly. "You don't have to answer," she added, she had been told multiple times that she can't ask brash questions or any question which could cause an emotional response as the initial question or without any hint or mention of the subject before hand.

"It is hard, I am still not used to him _not_ being around," Wanda answered after a few moments of silence. They both continued walking down the hall, Natasha holding her bag. "I always had him, after our parents died-" She stopped speaking for a few breaths, "It's like a part of me died with him."

Natasha looked at her, she has never felt like that when somebody died that she knew. She briefly wondered if she would ever look as broken as Wanda looked right then just talking about it. She wondered if it was possible for her to even feel that much emotion any more; especially an emotion not directly linked with survival. "If there's anything I can do, you can ask."

"Thank you," Wanda said with a sincerity. "You know, he is rather annoying, always reminding me that he is twelve minutes older than me." She let out a small chuckle at the memory and Natasha forced herself to join in with the chuckle. Although a small smile made its way onto Natasha's lips, Clint was like that a lot. She decided to share this bit of information, she has been told to open up more.

"Clint is like that- Makes me want to strangle him or kill him in a very, very painful way," Natasha informed her.

Wanda laughed, "That is probably why Pietro likes Clint."

It didn't escape Natasha's notice that Wanda still talked about her brother in the present tense, not the past. She was talking about him like he was still alive and would walk through the door any second. "Clint has the annoying habit of being a jerk and making people like him."

"Are you and Clint close?" Wanda questioned, looking at her as she came to a stop in front of a door.

Natasha contemplated the question for an entire second before replying, "I'd say so- we do have a daughter together."

Wanda looked at her in utter shock, "I always thought you had a thing with Steve." She admitted.

Natasha cracked a smile, "Just some harmless flirting, nothing wrong with that."

Wanda smiled, "This is your room."

"Thank you, I'll see you tomorrow," Natasha said turning and walking into her room. "Don't be late," she added as Wanda walked off, loud enough for the younger lady to hear before she closed her door.

The following morning, Natasha woke up an hour earlier than she had planned, giving her three hours before everybody was planning on meeting for the first day of training. She decided to walk around the new compound so she could map out where everything was; She had already studied and memorised the blueprints. After about thirty minutes, she made her way into one of the more equipped gyms, deciding to work out a bit before they all met up. She strode around the room for a few moments, her eyes scanning every corner before she slipped off her jacket and looked at the equipment.

She elected to go on the treadmill, a bit of early morning cardio was a good way to get her blood pumping. She was surprised when she saw Steve saunter in merely ten minutes after her, "You're up early." She commented as she continued running.

"It's not that early," Steve replied as he walked over to her. He looked at the speed she was going. "Have you eaten?"

Natasha half scoffed as she rolled her eyes, did he really have to be this nice and caring _all the time_. "Not yet."

"You should eat before you-"

"I will throw you out of a window," Natasha interrupted him, looking him directly in the eye to show that she was serious.

Steve nodded and simply walked over to the weight bench. They worked in silence for just under twenty minutes before Steve spoke. "What drills did you want them to do?"

"Standard," Natasha replied. "I do want them to have a test mission soon, it's the best way to know what they need improvements on."

Steve nodded, "Did you want to set one up for later this week?"

"That's too early," Natasha commented as she stepped off the treadmill and made her way over to the weapons. She eyed them up for a few moments, a small smile graced her lips. "I'd say we have them go on a group mission next week, giving us a week to examine their abilities and work out what mission to set up. We should work on them more individually."

Steve nodded in agreement as he stood up, "We should go and meet them."

Natasha nodded once as she tore her eyes away from the weapons before they both walked out to meet up with the recruits.

 **I'd love a review :D Aiming to get the next chapter up in about 4 days :)**


	6. Chapter Five

**Author's Note:**

 **Thank you for reading!**

 **Thank you to the amazing four individuals who reviewed the last chapter: Sanctuaria; discordchick; Fury-Natalia; Guest.**

 **Means the world to me!**

"Are we clear?" Steve asked, looking around at the small group assembled before them. All the recruits nodded.

"Maximoff, you're paired with Wilson; Vision, with Rhodes," Natasha told them, following the plan she and Steve had created last night. They decided to pair together teams that hadn't currently had much previous interaction with each other. She turned her focus to Scarlet Witch and Falcon, "You two, will be in charge of recovering the intel. It'll be somewhere in the facility and look like this." She held up a small red flash drive before turning to the other two recruits. "You'll be going after Agent X, leader of the HYDRA forces in the facility. You're going to capture, not kill-and, since this is only a simulation, only non-lethal force is to be used with any of the 'enemies.' They're all former S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, and they signed up to help you all learn to be a team, not to be killed in the process."

"But you will be fighting them," Steve clarified. "Wilson, Rhodes-your weapons will be ICERs, which are filled with a dendrotoxin that will just knock them out. They'll have paintball guns to simulate wounds on the four of you. Maximoff and Vision, just...tone your powers down a little."

"I shall," Vision nodded in an instant.

"I'll try," Wanda agreed, looking a little uneasy. She looked at Natasha, her eyes presenting how uneasy and scared she was about the whole simulation and using her powers against others.

"Remember the control exercises we've been doing," Natasha reminded her reassuringly. "You'll be fine." Scarlet Witch gave her a small smile of thanks before turning her attention back to Steve.

"There will also be a few targets we don't want harmed," Steve continued. Natasha collected four data pads and activated them, handing them out to the recruits as Steve continued speaking. "They're undercover for us in the facility, friendlies. Memorise their faces and don't hurt them."

"Understood?" Natasha asked and waited for them to all nod before continuing. "Okay, you all have one hour to prep. At 07:30, board Quinjet 001; the pilot will take you to the practice facility we've set up for you. This is the last you'll be seeing of Steve and me until after the mission is over, but we'll be watching."

"Remember," her co-leader added, "teamwork is the most valuable asset you have, even more so than your abilities. Good luck."

He and Natasha left for the exit, "Don't get shot," Natasha practically ordered before the elevator doors closed. They rode the elevator up to the operations room where they were going to watch the recruits.

"They're not talking or planning," Steve pointed to the monitors. Natasha took a seat in one of the chairs, unperturbed.

"At least they're going over the files on the datapads. Blueprints, schematics," Natasha commented, her voice bored and unimpressed.

"Separately. They should be discussing."

Natasha gave him a wry smile, amused with his impatience on the matter. "Do you remember what Stark said before the Battle of New York, when we were transporting Loki back to the helicarrier and Thor stole him right out of our Quinjet?"

"I told him we needed a plan of attack," Steve recollected as he looked at her, "and he replied, 'I have a plan: attack!'"

"Exactly," Natasha said. "We didn't start off as too great of a team either. They'll figure it out, eventually." Her fingers grazed the phone in her pocket. "Do you mind if I make a call before the real action starts?"

"No, go ahead," Steve replied, leaning closer to the monitors as he begun to jot down notes. Natasha nodded and left the room, sliding out her phone and dialing once she was in the hallway.

"Barton," Clint answered. She could hear the sleepiness in his voice and found herself slightly confused.

"Are you still in bed?" Natasha questioned.

"Yeah, Kristina had a nightmare, only got her back to sleep a couple of hours ago. Thought I'd sleep in, seeing as it's Saturday," Clint explained without any reservation.

"Oh, is she okay?" Natasha inquired as she strode down the hall and into one of the rooms.

"Yes, although, I am still not clear exactly what the nightmare was about," Clint confessed.

"She'll probably tell you later," Natasha commented as she slid onto one of the desks, kicking her legs absentmindedly. "Have you started that work-from-home job you said Fury got you?"

"Yeah, it's just going through missions and ex-agents. Pretty boring, but it gives me something to do." Clint replied. "Although, I was thinking, that if I break down the wall between the dining room and lounge, it would give us a more open area, what do you think?"

"It would be harder to defend, make it easier for an attack against us," Natasha replied, tilting her head to the side and angled upwards as she noticed a projector on the ceiling. Her eyes scanned the room again, now wondering why there was a classroom.

"How are the new Avengers?"

"Steve calls them recruits," Natasha pointed out. "They are doing well, just about to do a test mission."

"Is it their first test mission?" Clint asked.

"Yes, it is," Natasha confirmed. "It is a pretty straight-forward mission...with a twist or two."

"If something doesn't go wrong, it isn't realistic," Clint commented. "Only a couple twists? Tasha, I'm surprised at you."

She rolled her eyes. "I wanted more, but Steve insisted that they would make enough of their own mistakes and don't need us to pull the strings." She smiled. "Something is bound to go wrong."

"Did you want me to wake Kristina up so you can talk to her?" Clint asked.

"I can't; I have to go. It was just a quick call."

"Nat, she hasn't heard from you since her birthday-,"

"I know-"

"That was _twelve_ days ago," Clint finished, a tone to his voice that Natasha recognised as being close to disapproval in her actions and something else she couldn't pinpoint.

"I've been busy. I will try to call back later or tomorrow," Natasha promised.

"Okay," Clint replied. "I love you."

Natasha froze for a moment, she could hear his breath down the phone, "That's a weakness," she replied before hanging up and heading back to the observation room. "See, I told you they'd start to get it," Natasha said, walking in to join Steve. On the monitors, the recruits were standing in a circle, talking to one another.

"For all you know, they could be discussing the latest baseball game," Steve told her. She gave him a look. "But yes, I see your point. I'll just be glad when they all have comms in their ears and we can listen in."

"Which should be soon. It's almost time for them to leave." Onscreen, as if right on cue, the four new recruits began trooping for the exit. Steve hit a few buttons and the cameras switched to the interior of the Quinjet. After about a minute, the recruits reappeared, strapping themselves in.

"Have I ever mentioned how uncomfortable this armour is to sit in?" Rhodes asked, voice coming in cleanly through the speakers.

"Only about a dozen times," Wilson replied. "Hey, you okay?" Natasha's attention shifted to Wanda, who was using her powers to levitate a small silver-and-blue cube in her lap. She recognized it as one of their control exercises.

"Yeah," Wanda replied. "Just practicing."

"Here, try this one," Wilson told her, tossing her a larger, colourful cube out of his mission bag. She caught it with outstretched hands, the silver one falling into her lap. "I screwed it up and now I can't get it back together right, but maybe you can." Steve's note-taking paused for a second, then resumed at double-speed. Natasha read over his shoulder. _Wilson - Rubik's cube not acceptable gear for a mission._

Scarlet Witch held the cube at eye level, studying it for a moment before carefully releasing it and turning it over in the air, tendrils of red power keeping it aloft. It spun around a couple times before gently breaking apart into twenty-seven disparate pieces, and Wanda's eyes closed in concentration of keeping all of them afloat. The pieces swam around each other slowly before building into an aggregate whole. It fell onto her lap, completed, as her eyes opened again. She smiled, looking down at it, before holding it out to Wilson. "Thanks."

"That was amazing," he told her, accepting it back. "How could you align the colours with your eyes closed?"

She shrugged slightly. "I could see it with my mind, I guess."

"Landing in thirty seconds," the pilot called back to them. Wilson stuffed the Rubik's cube back into his bag and the rest of the recruits snapped themselves into position, each with their hand resting on the clasp of their seatbelt.

"Here we go," Natasha murmured, settling back in her seat to watch and scrutinise. Beside her, Steve was on his second page of notes, but she didn't care. She would remember what she needed to remember about their actions in her own head-and if tomorrow she didn't remember it, it obviously wasn't important enough to remember anyway. After a lifetime of memorising targets and covers, Natasha Romanoff didn't need notes to do her job.

The recruits headed cautiously but quickly into the building, scanning from side to side. They had put themselves into a defensive team formation, but they weren't exactly working together. "They're not sticking to their wedges of the pie," Steve said. She gave him a questioning look. "It's something they teach you when you're part of a team. You have to pay attention to just your allotted space and trust your team mates to watch theirs."

"Then they don't trust each other very much," Natasha observed. She fell silent as the recruits meet their first bit of 'Hydra' resistance: eight ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in full tac gear with paintball rifles. A small smile tugged at her lips as she watched the wall behind them get blasted with the first splatter of paint that should have hit Falcon square in the chest from ten feet away-until it was sent flying the other direction by Scarlet Witch.

The recruits dispatched of the eight agents rather quickly, moving on through the facility she and Steve had designed. Only one of them had any paint on them so far: War Machine, and just on the tip of his boot. Then again, they shouldn't feel too good about themselves yet-that was only eight men, and in the Battles of New York and Sokovia there had been thousands of aliens and robots.

It was unfortunate, Natasha reflected, that the remnants of S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn't simulate something of _that_ scale.

Coming to a halt, the recruits looked at each other. They had reached the part of the blueprints that Natasha had mentally marked with an X. "I guess here's where we split up," Rhodes said.

Vision nodded. "The computer room where the intel is most likely to be lies to the right. The director's office is located to the left."

"Good luck," Wilson told the other two before he and Scarlet Witch split off. They moved quietly and quickly, communicating wordlessly. Natasha watched the approach of another group of agents upon their location, silently counting down in her head the seconds until the recruits came into contact with them. Falcon opened fire first, a widespread barrage of ICER pellets that served as cover fire so that he and Scarlet Witch could find time to dive for a desk to crouch behind before the paint came flying. Once she was safely behind an overturned table, Scarlet Witch lifted a hand and began manipulating the objects in the room, randomly at first before refining her control. One agent became pinned under a desk. Another two were taken out by Falcon's ICER rounds, his aim so miraculous in its specificity that Natasha suspected Scarlet Witch was helping guide the bullets.

After dispatching the last two men, Falcon and Scarlet Witch continued through the facility.

"Hey, over here," Steve said, gesturing for her to pay attention to one of the screens nearer to him. This one was focused on the adventures of Rhodes and Vision, although the image was degraded due to the amount of light thrown out by Vision as he attacked. The two men were fighting a group of seven agents, using brute force to their advantage. "They're not guarding themselves very well," Steve commented as red paint splattered War Machine's chestplate.

"He thinks the suit will protect him," Natasha agreed. "But he shouldn't assume, unless it's absolutely necessary. You never know when your enemy will have the better weapon up their sleeve." Steve jotted it down on his notepad just as War Machine and Vision finished off the last of the agents. The glow from Vision's gem dissipated and the cameras readjusted, returning to perfect clarity.

Both Steve and Natasha were pleasantly surprised when each pair achieved their allotted goals sooner than they thought they would, with War Machine and Vision working out some good strategy on how to take the Hydra leader with minimal ruckus and Scarlet Witch and Falcon intelligently deducing the likely places for the intel to be stored and getting it on only the second try. Steve sat back with a pensive look on his face, overall content with the way things had gone down.

Natasha, however, knew better. She remained in her upright position, monitoring the team's progress closely. Any minute now...

"They're reuniting in their previous meeting spot and then fighting their way out," Steve was saying. "And we've seen them do that before. I'm a little impressed at their performance; aren't you?"

"I don't get impressed," she replied matter-of-factly without looking up.

"Ah, right-you just take things in stride," he nodded. Natasha watched as the two sets of recruits joined each other. She reached for the microphone, pulling it towards her.

"Hey, what are you-?"

She hit the comm button. "Avengers, change of extraction plans. Proceed out of the back exit, not the way you came in."

"Understood," War Machine and Falcon replied at the same time. She pushed the microphone back into its place.

"What are you doing?" Steve asked, sitting forward.

"Like you said, watching them fight their way out the exact same way they came in won't be useful to us," Natasha answered impassively.

He considered it a moment. "You're right, a variation in environment will do them good."

Onscreen, the four recruits burst through another door into a set of low-cut cubicles. Half the agents inside rose to face the Avengers holding paintball guns and the other half either stood up to run or cowered under their desks. Steve leaned in closer. "Two of those agents are the friendlies they aren't supposed to harm."

Natasha nodded. "We'll see if they do."

Paint splattered the computers and walls as the recruits fought. Vision's gem flashed, and an agent crumpled to the floor under its light. More agents began running into the room, but their stream became abruptly cut off when the door slammed in their faces with a swirl of scarlet. Falcon turned his gun on another agent but stopped, giving her a swift nod before attacking someone else. "That's one of them," Steve said. The agent stepped closer to the recruits, as if to join them, but Natasha's lips curled upwards as she watched her slip out her gun and fire it at Falcon's back. Paint left an angry red mark there, and looked backwards in surprise. The agent-female, blonde-wasted no time in shooting Vision next, but by that time the other Avengers had noticed what was going on.

"Natasha," Steve said, "is there something you want to tell me? Why is one of the friendlies attacking the recruits?"

"I would guess that she turned," Natasha replied evenly. "Spent too long in Hydra that her loyalties shifted."

"I thought we said the simulation didn't need any twists!"

"You consider that to be a twist?" Natasha questioned innocently as she leant back on her chair and lifted her legs up to rest on the desk.

Steve sighed. "You know it is; next time, please tell me."

Natasha smirked as she admitted. "It was more fun to see the look on your face."

Scarlet Witch cast out her hands and sent the agent in question sprawling backwards. War Machine motioned his teammates onward, leaving one or two of the Hydra agent behind. The faces of the recruits were grimmer now. They were taking it more seriously, and that was what Natasha wanted. They were humbled.

A few minutes later, they were back on the Quinjet, heading back home.

Natasha paced into the gym, overtaking Steve as she approached the recruits, "Stand apart." She directed before walking around each of them, examining them intently.

Steve stopped a few feet in front of the recruits, deciding to ignore Natasha at the current moment, "Good job, recruits. You completed the mission and got the intel-"

"I wouldn't classify you all getting killed as good," Natasha commented.

"It was just a trial mission and you worked very well together," Steve countered lightly, giving the recruits support and a smile.

"Although, you would all have _died_ if those were real shots- except Vision, who is a robot." Natasha emphasised.

"I'm not a-"

"You do know you are supposed to _dodge_ the bullets," Natasha continued, completely dismissing Vision's attempt to correct her when she called him a robot.

Steve awkwardly continued talking when Natasha looked at him, silently giving him permission, "We were able to gather detailed information which will aid us in training you. You can have the rest of the day off-"

"After," Natasha interrupted, once more. "You run around the base once for _every_ splodge of paint on you. So, Vision, that's five laps, Wanda, three laps, Falcon, nine laps and finally war machine, you have to run twenty four laps. You shouldn't rely on your armour to keep you safe."

Natasha turned and walked out of the room, she faintly heard Steve support her order, "You heard her, I'll be supervising you all."

 **I'd love a review! Next chapter up within a week.**


	7. Chapter Six

**Author's note:**

 **Massive thank you to Sanctuaria, Melody Jenna Plumber and discordchick for the amazing and supportive reviews! I take in every suggestion you give me!**

 **Huge thank you to the 18 followers and 7 fav's! :D**

Natasha swung the knife around in one hand as she dialed Clint's number and held the phone up to her ear. She launched forward, swishing the knife around expertly, not touching a single object in her path as she softly paced the outskirts of the compound. Her lips curved upwards when Clint answered the call after three long rings.

"Nat."

"Clint," she replied, twirling the knife and enjoying the way the metal glimmered in the sunlight.

"How's the training going?" Clint asked her, pulling her out of her thoughts.

"Very well," Natasha answered. "Steve and Rhodey work together most of the time, they are friends. Wanda seems more comfortable training with me, and she has come a long way from when we first met her. War Machine and Vision are then paired up with each other and War Machine has far too much fun with the training. Any suggestions of how to mix it up? Or what I can do to make it harder for Vision?"

Clint hummed gently down the phone in thought, "You definitely need to take them out of their comfort zones. If you can see any potential good partnerships, push for that a bit. Make sure they are all good with hand on hand combat-"

"Good partnerships," Natasha commented out loud, she never really focused on that as much as she did for individual expandment.

"Wanda and Vision, put them together. Have Falcon and War Machine partner up too, they can easily work on hand to hand combat; they are both great with their gear and gadgets."

"You want me and Steve to partner up too?"

"I want you to come home for a week or so; you've been gone a month," Clint informed her.

Natasha stopped walking, the knife stilling in her hand for a split second. "How's Kristina?" she asked finally as she began to slowly spin the knife in her hand once again.

"She's good," Clint replied shortly.

Natasha frowned, in a normal case, people would sigh at the lack of information, but she knew that Clint gave her the information he thought she wanted. "How is she adapting to school?" she asked, seeking further details.

"She loves school, runs there in the morning and is the last out at the end. She's barely home directly after school, usually opting for an after school activity or going over to a friends house. The only days I know for certain she won't book something for is Tuesdays and Fridays."

"What happens on Tuesday or Friday?"

"She does ballet them two days, for two hours each day and then four hours on a Saturday morning," Clint informed her, adding onto the information she was receiving. Without asking, he continued talking, "She has a recital tonight."

"She has a ballet recital tonight?" Natasha repeated as her movements slowed.

"Yes, I found out two days ago; the dance teacher decided she was ready even though she hasn't been in the class long," Clint clarified. "Did you want to do."

"I can't get back that early," Natasha replied stoically, walking over to a 6 foot wall. She jumped up, grabbing the top of the wall, pressing her foot against the wall as she pulled herself up and sat on the wall. "You should have told me sooner, I would have wanted to see that." She admitted.

Clint didn't reply immediately and Natasha didn't have anything else to add. Just as she contemplating ending the call, he spoke, "I'm sorry."

"Doesn't matter," Natasha replied, she noticed that her voice had become considerably colder over the course of the conversation.

"I'll record it."

Natasha looked at the knife in her hand, turning it slowly and focusing on the light reflecting against the sharp blade, "Do you even know how to do that?"

"That was _one_ time," Clint instantly defended.

"Twice, there was the-"

"Okay, so I didn't record _two_ things, doesn't mean I don't know how," Clint replied. "Are you going to come back any time soon?"

"I'll visit," Natasha replied.

"Nat, this is your home, you don't visit," Clint reinforced.

Natasha opened her mouth to reply but hesitated, he had called his house her home, as if she lived there. As if she could call some place her home. But she didn't live there, she had barely spent any time there. She closed her eyes for a moment. "I'll come v-"

"Home, you'll come home." Clint interrupted her.

"Give me a few days," Natasha replied, not confirming or rejecting the comment about it being her home.

"Speak to you soon," Clint stated. After a few seconds, he hung up.

Natasha slid the phone into her pocket, taking her time to zip it up before standing on the wall and walking across it. She placed her knife into the holder on her ankle before jumping off the wall and rolling as she landed. With a fluid movement she continued making her way across the the compound and back inside.

Natasha allowed herself to glide through the grounds and slip into the compound through a window. She subconsciously made a note to secure the windows as she continued her route to find Steve.

"Natasha," Wanda called, interrupting Natasha as the younger girl jogged up to her. "I was wondering if I could talk to you."

"Is it important?" Natasha inquired.

"No," Wanda replied, stepping back and preparing to leave.

"Great, you can continue," Natasha granted permission.

Wanda's lips parted in surprise but quickly regained her composure. "It's about sparring," she confessed before taking a breath, "I really appreciate everything you have taught me and you are a brilliant mentor- but, sparring with you doesn't really... You're way too advanced; I can't keep up with your movements, and I was wondering-"

"Wanda, stop talking," Natasha said looking directly at her. "Lucky for you, you don't need to spar with me for a few days. You'll be sparring with one of the boys," Natasha informed before offering her some advice, "You have a sharp mind and they offer a larger target. Be quick on your feet, focus primarily on dodging their hits and only attack when you feel you have the advantage."

Wanda nodded. "Thank you," she said gratefully.

Natasha nodded and walked off, she didn't change any of her plans to help the recruit, but she appeared to be genuinely happy about the change of opponent and advice. She then proceeded on her search of her partner, quickly finding him in the gym alone. She didn't question that he wasn't with Rhodey, even though they were scheduled to train this morning and strode towards him.

"Hey Natasha," Steve greeted with a smile, slowing down his weight lifting.

"I'm going to visit Clint and Natasha for.. a day or so," Natasha informed him.

Steve nodded as he placed the weights down, "Okay, when are you leaving?"

"Now."

"Now? A little warning would have been nice, we were planning-"

"I know," Natasha said, interrupting him. The silence built between them for a few seconds, she was giving Steve the chance to say something, but he didn't. "It would be good to build on partner work, with us not guiding them so much. Falcon and War Machine are brilliantly matched for sparring. Vision and Scarlet Witch are also balanced to partner up but on a less hands on approach. You could observe to see how they do with very little interference. They do need to figure things out for themselves."

Steve nodded in agreement, "Tell Kristina I said hello."

"I'll also tell Clint you send your regards," Natasha replied, a glint of amusement in her eyes at Steve's eyes widening at the indication that he forgot about his former teammate.

"I-"

"Goodbye, Steve."

"Have a safe journey, Natasha."

Natasha strode out of the gym, leaving Steve in her wake.

Natasha's eyes glided across the shadowed street as she paced confidently down it, her heels ringing out as she stepped. She walked straight into the performance hall, remaining in the shadows as her eyes scanned the crowd. Her eyes flickered to the stage and noted that a small group of six 5 year olds were dancing. It was obviously the same dance, but they were all going a different times. Removing her eyes from the young dancers she glided into the audience and sat in the empty chair beside Clint.

"Sorry, that- Natasha?" Clint asked, confusion setting in for a split second. "I thought you said…"

"Who were you saving the seat for?"

"They said to save a seat for the children, for after the performance," Clint explained.

Natasha nodded and turned her focus to the stage, "I'll head home after she dances then." She looked back at Clint when he took her hand, setting a small smile on her lips, "I am going to seriously maim you for not telling me about this earlier."

"I wouldn't expect anything else," Clint replied before they both continued to watch the little ballerinas.

They had to watch six performances before Kristina was up, doing a trio with two dancers who were seven and eight years old. It was only then that Natasha truly realised that Kristina was quite petite for her age, as she was able to fit in with the two younger dancers. She mainly focused on Kristina's technique instead of the story behind the dance. She remembered the movements very well and didn't hesitate at any point. Although, she wasn't that well in her technique; her toes were pointed only half of the time, her arms and legs weren't perfect, her arms were especially sloppy. Of course, Natasha could appreciate that in the amount of time she had, she did rather well, it wasn't the worst performance she had seen. She clapped along with the other parents and watched as Kristina waved excitingly at both her and Clint before stumbling and walking backstage.

At the end of the performance, Kristina came running out and literally jumped on Natasha and hugged her. "You came!" she squeaked.

Natasha patted her back, "Of course I came, I wouldn't miss this."

"Are you staying? How long for? Can we have ice cream? Is Steve here? Did you like my dance?" Kristina asked, looking at Natasha with wide, excited and expectant eyes.

"Yes, few days, ask your father, no, yes."

"I missed you so much!" Kristina squeaked, hugging her tighter.

"Same here," Natasha replied with a small and slightly tight smile. "Focus on the stage."

Kristina twisted around on Natasha's lap and looks at the stage when the announce the gradings of students and upcoming events.

"Guess we have enough seats," Clint muttered, the amusement evident in his voice. Natasha glared at him lightly, before holding onto Kristina to stop her wiggling off her as she continued to be over-excited.

Natasha continued to glance at Kristina as she fell asleep in the back of the car, she had barely lasted five minutes before her eyes drooped completely closed and did not open. The rest of the car journey continued in silence and once parked, Clint silently carried Kristina upstairs to her bed. Natasha wandered into the kitchen and poured herself some pure orange juice as she waited for Clint to come back down.

It didn't take long before he was standing in front of her, his lips turned upwards into a small smirk while his head tilted to the side, "I thought you said that I didn't give you enough notice?" he questioned rhetorically.

Natasha frowned, she hated when he used a mocking tone. She hated the fact that she was technically wrong, she _was_ able to make it, "I am still pissed at you."

"Good," Clint replied shortly, his hands resting on the kitchen counter, capturing her between his arms as he leant forward and planted a small and short kiss on her lips. "It shows you care."

Natasha narrowed her eyes at him, "Why do you still insist on me proving my loyalty to you?" she questioned, her tone harsher than she intended. She kept her expression strong and guarded, but that didn't faze Clint, he was used to it.

"Loyalty to Kristina, not me," Clint clarified, his lips still turned upwards. Natasha furrowed her eyebrows, showing him that she did not entirely understand his connection to her wanting to see Kristina's ballet performance and being loyal to the young girl. "Why did you come tonight?" He asked, prompting her.

"To see how quickly Kristina can pick up information, moves and corrections. You know I like ballet," Natasha answered.

Clint balanced himself as he stopped leaning against the counter, but did not take any steps back, "I've never seen you drop everything for a ballet performance before… well, I've only seen you do it once before."

Natasha smiled as she remembered what he was talking about, during a mission in Russia, she noticed that there was a traditional performance, one which she had danced hundreds of times in her youth. When she realised that it started in twenty minutes, she stormed the compound, killed whomever she needed and extracted the information in under fifteen before dragging Clint to the 172 minute performance. She looked up at Clint, "It seemed important." Her answer was vague.

"She takes it very seriously," Clint informed her with a small smile. "How long are you staying?"

Natasha looked at him directly as he asked the question, seeing his smile tightened slightly, "A few days." She answered softly, as if she was afraid her voice could make him move away from her.

"Summer holidays is coming up, so she won't be at school for nearly seven weeks," Clint informed her. Natasha simply looked at him, silently waiting for him to continue. "Will you come be here at all?"

"Do you want me here?"

"Kristina does."

"Do you?"

"Yes."

"Then I'll be here, I'll arrange a schedule," Natasha informed him.

"If I said I didn't want you to come, but Kristina did- would you come?"

"No."

"If Kristina didn't want you to come, but I did- would you come?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"You know the answer to that."

"Why are you in Kristina's life? Why are you being her mother?"

"Because you want me to."

"Not for…"

Natasha groaned in annoyance, stopping Clint mid sentence, she was annoyed with his line of questioning and the fact that he would hate what she was about to say. "What do you want me to say Clint?"

"I am not going to tell you what to say."

"Really? Because it sounds like you want me to say that I would do anything for Kristina and would drop anything for her," Natasha retorted. She narrowed her eyes, keeping her features strong, "Which would be untrue, I wouldn't discard a mission for her."

"You have for me."

"That's different though."

"How?"

"Because-" Natasha took a deep breath. If he wanted her to lay it all out on the table she would, if he didn't want her to hold back, she wouldn't. "Everything is for _you_! I left KGB because of you, even though I knew it would probably mean the end of my life, I joined S.H.I.E.L.D., I kept the baby instead of aborting it because it was _yours!_ Damn it, Clint. The only damn reason I ever even looked at that little girl for longer than a second was because she was _yours,_ because you wanted her! You want me to be a part of her life, so here I am!"

Clint stepped back slightly so he was completely level on his feet, as he released a breath slowly out of his nose.

"I am not going to stand here and pretend that I have done anything specifically for Kristina, because I haven't," Natasha commented simply.

"You brought her ballet clothes and enrolled her into ballet- which you paid for in full up front. That was for Kristina!" Clint retorted.

Natasha frowned slightly, her lips curving downwards, she couldn't argue that. From all the emotions going on, she didn't bother to hold anything back; there was no use pretending anymore. "I know you thought that the more time you got me to spend with her, the more I was change… the more I would be able to be a _Mom_. I wish I could be that for you… for Kristina. But I can't. I _can't_ be a mom, Clint." She hated that her voice was not as strong and emotionless like she expected, she hated that she was actually getting emotional over this whole conversation and situation.

Clint took a step back towards her and she shook her head, slipping past him and walking out of the room. It didn't escape her attention that he did not follow her and his attempt in stopping her was pathetic and barely an attempt. She had finally said what they both knew out loud, guess they couldn't pretend to be a normal family any longer.

Natasha sighed as she reached the front door, her hand hovering over the handle. After a few minutes she heard Clint move out of the kitchen towards her, she pulled the front door open and jogged out to the street. She didn't look back as her feet hit the ground with gentle and silent thuds.

 **If there are any Huntingbird fans, you should check out one of the stories I'm beta'ing it's amazing and written by my amazing beta, Sanctuaria!**

 **s/11320827/1/Huntingbird-A-History**

 **I'd love a review and suggestions of what you would like to see! I attempt to add them all into the story in some capacity :)**


	8. Chapter Seven

**Author's Note:**

 **Wow, I received a lovely response from readers! Thank you so much for the reviews: Fury-Natalia; BookLuv;** **Sanctuaria; Phoenix1966.**

* * *

Natasha jumped off the back of the truck, ducking into a roll to avoid being too badly injured. The truck driver was not aware of her presence and therefore did not slow down from 60 MPH when it was time for her to get off. Her eyes scanned the surroundings from her floor position before she stood, checked her navigation and set off for a 27 mile run to the Avengers new compound. She hadn't stopped moving since last night, since she had walked out of Clint's home after Kristina's performance.

As she ran at a steady and light footed pace, she watched as the sky changed colour in the lead up to a beautiful sunset. Red, pinks and yellows filled the sky and disappeared behind the compound as she slowed her run into a gentle jog when she approached the building. She knew that she had ran slower than she usually would have, but her emotions were still annoying her. She couldn't work out if she was angry, upset, annoyed, irritated, disappointed, or a combination of the emotions. All she knew is that she needed to work out to clear her head. Although, she felt the natural inclination to sleep; after all, she hadn't rested for 44 hours. She could easily last longer, but after the run, holding onto a truck at top speed, her fight with Clint, working out before she the compound the previous day- she was tired.

Natasha walked through the front door, nodding her thanks to one of the guards, and instantly made for her room. Regardless of whether she decided to sleep or work out, she knew she wanted a shower and to change. She was in 'normal' clothes, which had little flexibility. At least, it was little for her. As she rounded a corner, Vision caught her eye.

"Miss Romanoff, what a pleasant surprise, are you here to watch the spar?" he inquired.

Natasha closed the four metre distance and glanced through window to see Falcon and War Machine getting ready to spar, "I am." She confirmed. She sent Vision a small smile, before opening the door and walking in. She could feel Vision follow her in.

"Natasha, I thought-"

"I didn't want to miss the spar," Natasha interrupted him, she could tell by his face that he _knew_ something was wrong, but he didn't press. She wasn't sure which part annoyed her more, him knowing something was wrong, or him deciding to remain quiet and let her decide if she wanted to talk, or that she knew he would wait until they were alone to ask her if she was alright. Regardless, she sat down on the bench beside him and turned her focus to the two recruits. Over the other side of the room, she noticed Wanda poking her head in, she waved the younger girl in.

Wanda smile sheepishly as she awkwardly walked in, obviously embarrassed about being caught, but she walked over to Vision and sat beside him silent.

Falcon and War Machine faced each other on the mat, fists raised in the standard defensive positions. Rhodey made the first move, a quick jab that was obviously meant just to test Wilson's reflexes, and which the other man easily blocked. Wilson followed up with an uppercut to the chin that Rhodey avoided, although he did manage to twist his leg around War Machine's ankle and send him to the ground. Rhodey rolled quickly away and sprang uninjured to his feet, surprising Falcon with a swift feint to the stomach and a real blow to the shoulder.

The match continued for several minutes, first with one of them seeming to have the advantage and then the other. Eventually, though, Falcon landed a particularly nasty hit to War Machine's abdomen and his adversary grunted, staggering backward and falling. Wilson, though sweaty and obviously tiring with the intensity of the fight, wasted no time in pinning him to the floor-winning by a narrow margin. After a few moments proving the strength of Falcon's hold on Rhodey, he helped him to his feet. Everyone-even Steve-looked to Natasha at the end for the verdict on how well they'd done.

Natasha sighed, not really having anything to say. At the moment, she couldn't really care. It wasn't overly impressive and the moves didn't attract her attention. Natasha just stood up and silently walked out of the room, their eyes watching her but none of them daring to follow. She paced the halls for a few minutes before finally making her way up to her room.

* * *

Natasha turned off the shower, stopping the boiling hot water from cascading down her body. She ran her hands through her hair in a small attempt of draining her hair of water before she gathered her towel and wrapped it around her body. She heard somebody knock on her door and stepped out of the bathroom, through her room and opened the door. One of her hands remained on her towel, insuring it wouldn't fall as she looked at Steve.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt your shower," Steve stuttered out quickly, his eyes darting away from her.

"You didn't," Natasha replied before walking into her room and sitting down on her bed, pulling out some clothes from her drawers. She was thankful that she had decided to leave some standard clothing here, because she had left her go-bag at Clints. She watched Steve glance out of the room, obviously wondering if he should leave before stepping into her room confidently, although he stayed very close to the open door. "Do you mind closing the door, there's a draft."

Steve cleared his throat awkwardly before closing the door and stepping closer to it, "I just wanted to see if you were okay."

"No," Natasha replied. She saw the shock on Steve's face. "Clint and I had a small disagreement."

Steve contemplated for a few moments before stepping forward, like he was planning on comforting her but then stopped. She couldn't help but wonder if it was because she was only in a towel or if he just decided against it in general. "Is there anyway I could help?"

"You could tell Clint to stop being an emotional teenager and grow up," Natasha replied instantly. "Remind him that the world isn't about sunshine and rainbows-" She stopped speaking suddenly. She looked down for a moment and looked through her clothes, "I messed up, it was my fault." She admitted.

"What happened?"

Natasha looked up, noticing that he had ventured closer to her. "I'll meet you in gym three. I think I should get dressed." She said as she stood up, holding her selected outfit. "Unless you wanted to watch me change?"

Steve turned and walked out of her room, closing the door behind him in seconds. Natasha couldn't help but crack a smile at the speed he moved when she mentioned undressing.

* * *

Natasha slowly made her way to the gym, she had tied her hair up because it was wet and was getting longer. Her hair was never a problem, but sometimes if you spun around too quickly, getting whipped in the face by wet hair is actually rather distracting. She approached the door carefully before opening it and sliding in quickly.

Steve turned his head to look at her, from his position of sitting on the bench, he looked relieved to see her. Natasha was not certain he was relieved because he was afraid she wasn't going to turn up, or something simpler, like he was relieved she was now dressed.

Natasha paced into the room, her eyes working out how much space there was, "Spar?" she asked.

Steve nodded and stood up, she rolled his shoulders back a few times and stretched out before joining her on the mats, "Did you want to talk?" he asked.

"No," Natasha responded shortly.

Steve gave her a curt nod, before sending a few testing punches her way. They were easily blocked without much effort, this went on for a little while. This couldn't really be classed as a real sparring session, it looked more like they were trying to learn the hits.

Natasha stopped for a second before hitting Steve's arm out of the way and sending a quick punch to his stomach. In an instant, it turned into a full-on sparring match, although, there was the unspoken rule that both of their feet would remain on the ground; it was a rule they had for the recruits when Vision kept floating. The punches were pretty even paced, Steve would send his fist forward, Natasha would dodge it or hit it out of the way and visa-versa. Although, it slowly turned into Natasha attacking and Steve defending as he took minute steps backwards to avoid any real damage on either of them. Natasha's breathing increased right before her fist connected with Steve's jaw at a high velocity; this hit was easily hard enough to break somebody's jaw.

Steve caught her arm as her fist connected, his head jerking to the side. His other hand grabbed her other arm, halting her movements. "Natasha," he grunted, gaining her attention.

Natasha looked at him directly in the eyes, she noticed the red-mark and bruise that was already forming on his jaw-line. She shook her shoulders slightly, silently telling him to let go off her, but he didn't, "I am not going to talk about my feelings."

"I don't want you to do anything you don't want to, Natasha," Steve said calmly and supportively. "Whatever happened with Clint has obviously gotten to you and I can tell that you're tired. Why don't you get some rest."

Natasha huffed slightly, "I'm not tired." She felt Steve's fingers loosen on her arms, "You can't fix me, Ste-"

"You don't need fixing," Steve interrupted her.

Natasha's lips parted ever so slightly at Steve actually interrupting her, something which she never imagined him doing. In a lot of ways, Steve reminded Natasha of Clint's supportive and loving self- although, Clint also had the murderous assassin self too. Which was something Steve clearly lacked. Clint had said in the past that he would help to 'fix her', whatever he meant by that, she wasn't sure at the time. And to this day she is not sure what needed fixing. Now, Steve was standing here, right after she had punched him, telling her that she didn't need fixing, she couldn't help but argue the issue. "Yes I do."

"No you don't," Steve replied without any hesitation in his voice. "You are perfect the way you are, I see how Wanda looks up to you. You might not see it, but you don't need to change."

Natasha felt Steve release her completely and noticed how close they were standing, she was still looking at his face. It would be easy to lean forward those few inches and kiss him, but many things stopped her before the thought of actually doing it overcame her. Firstly, Clint. Secondly, Kristina. Thirdly, fear about Steve's reaction. But she barely even let that last thing linger. She did need to sort things out with Clint, for Kristina's sake. Whether or not she admitted it to herself, Kristina was part of her life and she deserved a mother who gave a damn. Now that Kristina knew who she was, she couldn't back out of being her mother now.

She stepped back and turned towards the door, "You're right, I am tired." She muttered out of politeness before walking out of the gym and back to her room.

* * *

Natasha's forehead creased as she felt her phone buzzing, her hand darted out from the covers and answered the call without even bothering to open her eyes. She knew it was around 3 or 4 in the morning, "Romanoff."

"Mom?"

Natasha's eyes opened instantly as she sat up. She had gone to bed straight after leaving Steve in the gym. Her eyes darted to the clock and noted that it was 3:27 A.M. "Kristina, you should be asleep." she said softly down the phone.

"I know. But- you left," Kristina's small whisper came through the phone. "Dad said you had to go."

"I'm sorry, I know I told you that I wouldn't go without saying goodbye-"

"Can you come back?" Kristina asked.

Natasha closed her eyes as she could hear hear the tears fall down the child's cheek, even though it was obvious she was trying to hide it, "Things are complicated…"

"Is it because you and Dad had a fight?"

"You heard that?" Natasha asked, a sinking feeling growing in her stomach.

"I heard you arguing, but I didn't hear what about- Did you leave because of me? Did I do something wrong?" Kristina whimpered, failing even more by the second to hide her tears.

"No, no. You've done nothing wrong," Natasha said softly. She processed her own words; Kristina hadn't done anything wrong, except being born to an emotionless assassin. Maybe she should make a larger effort to play house, to pretend to be a bit more normal so Kristina could have a normal upbringing. It wasn't fair on Kristina to grow up in a dysfunctional household because Natasha couldn't or didn't want to be a mother. Natasha took a breath, she had been on hundreds of undercover missions, being a mother couldn't be too hard, right? "Your father and I just have some things to work out. It wasn't about you, we both love you very much."

"So… you're coming home?"

"Yeah, I'm coming home. Just not right now…" Natasha stopped as another whimper came. "You see, your uncle Steve and I are helping a few friends of ours. But I will come back _very_ soon, I promise."

"Okay."

"You should get back to bed before your father finds you," Natasha advised. "Get some rest."

"Good night," Kristina whispered.

Natasha could hear her stand up and wondered where exactly in the house she was and why Clint didn't seem to be there. "Where are you?"

"In the basement,"

"You shouldn't be in there alone, the equipment is dangerous."

"I'm sorry," Kristina replied as her feet pitter-pattered on the floor. Natasha heard the door open and almost cringed when she heard Clint's voice.

"Kristina, what are you doing?"

"Got to go, bye." Kristina said before the line went dead. Natasha couldn't help the amused smirk which made its way onto her lips before putting her phone on silent so she could effectively ignore the inevitable call from Clint and went back to sleep.

* * *

Natasha stretched out on the bed, pushing the sheets from her body before leaning over and picking up her phone. She couldn't help the smirk that slowly curved her lips at the uncommon amount of messages and missed calls; without checking she knew that most, if not all, of them was from Clint. She sat up as she flicked through the messages, replying to Bobbi's message before reading Clint's.

A chuckle left her lips at his obvious confusion to why she was talking to Kristina, in the middle of the night. After her confession, even Natasha wouldn't have believed she was willingly talking to Kristina. She knew that Clint was wondering what alternative motive she had, or something. As if he knew she had the phone in her hands, it rang, Clint's name flashing up on the screen. Without any hesitation she rejected the call. She rolled her eyes as it rang again and she barely registered it wasn't Clint just in time to stop rejecting the call. Her brow creased in confusion at Bobbi actually calling her and answered it, "Romanoff."

"It's Bobbi-"

"I know, caller ID."

"Can you call Clint back?" Bobbi asked, although there was no pressure in her voice, actually it sounded like she was bored.

"Really? Clint called you because I didn't answer his call?" Natasha mused as she slid out of bed and made her way into the bathroom.

"His reasoning was that, in his words, I am your _only female friend_ ," Bobbi replied.

"You're not my _only female friend,"_ Natasha countered. Hearing the objection about to come from Bobbi's lips, she continued. "Melinda May."

"Do you two ever actually talk when you meet up?"

"Talking isn't required to be friends with somebody," Natasha instantly replied. "Listen, I will talk to Clint when I have decided what I want to say to him."

"Can you call Clint to tell him that you will call him when you know what you want to say to him?"

"Fine."

"Thanks," Bobbi replied, obviously satisfied with Natasha's answer. "Don't make yourself a stranger."

"Sure, tell me your location and I'll tell you when I'm in your area." Natasha smirked, knowing that there was a high chance Bobbi was not able to reveal her location. After two seconds of silence, she bid her friend a goodbye.

"Bye, Nat."

Natasha hung up the phone, immediately calling Clint.

"Finally!" Clint exclaimed. "Do you want to explain-"

"Kristina called me, I answered, we talked. Stop calling me or I'll get Bobbi to electrocute you with her starves," Natasha said with complete seriousness before hanging up.

* * *

 **I'd love a review if you have time. Is there anything you would like to see? Or any Marvel character you want to make an appearance, let me know :)**


	9. Chapter Eight

**Author's note:**

 **Thank you for reading! Sorry about the lack of posts, it's barely once a week, but I got a little carried away with watching SDCC and dubsmash war!**

 **Thank you to the amazing three individuals who reviewed!** **kira shadow wolf; discordchick; prankprincess123 :D**

* * *

Natasha followed her normal morning routine of getting up early, showering, dressing and then heading to one of the gyms or running around the compound. Today, she elected to go for an hour run before making her way into the gym. She acknowledged Steve and Rhodey as she approached the weapons.

"Natasha, we were thinking about some teamwork games-"

"Sounds good," Natasha said dismissively, "I'm heading out in a bit for a couple of days." She added offhandedly.

"You are?" Steve questioned, a flicker of confusion crossed his face as he appeared to recollect if he knew about this, however, soon his face turned to understanding and he gave her a small smile, "Right, of course you are."

"Where are you going?" Rhodey asked.

"I do have a daughter. Do you expect me to not visit her?" Natasha asked, almost harshly as she stared him down. He awkwardly coughed and avoided her eyes.

"Right, sorry."

"Do you know when you'll be back?" Steve asked.

"No, call me anytime, I'll answer," Natasha said before turning her back to the boys and picking up a small dagger before putting it down. "I'll be in the shooting range." She tells them before walking to the door. Right before she exited, she turned at looked at Steve, "I'll let you know when I get back."

"Sounds good, Natasha."

It took five hours before Natasha actually left the compound, and in that time combined with the long drive to Clint's, she ignored eight texts from him and two calls. Her lips pursed with annoyance at this side of Clint; he had never acted like this before. She did, however, answer a call from Melinda May and spoke to her for a few minutes; although, they conversations never lasted long, neither of them liked talking very much.

* * *

She parked on the side of the road and quickly checking the area, noting that one of the neighbours poked their head through the curtain to see who had arrived at 9 P.M. Natasha took her gaze off the curious woman in her sixties and noticed that most of the lights in Clint's house were off, excluding the kitchen light and another light that she guessed was the bathroom.

Natasha slid out of the car, silently walking to the front door. She stood there for a few minutes without knocking before hearing gentle footsteps pace towards her; she just knew instinctively that they were Clint's. She knew she had chance to hide before he opened the door, but instead raised her head slightly and waited with confidence. When he opened the door, obviously having checked the cameras to see who had approached the house, she walked straight past him and into the kitchen. Without asking, she poured herself some water and took a sip. Turning around and leaning against the counter she silently looked at Clint impassively.

"What are you doing here?" he asked out of curiosity more than anything.

"You rang, repeatedly, thought you were dying." To make her point, she eyed him up and down, exaggerating her movements.

Clint frowned and looked like he was truly examining her words and trying to work out if they were the truth or not.

Natasha noticed the bags under his eyes and was about to question his lack of sleep when she heard a door swing open. "Kristina's been keeping you up," she commented and started to make her way out of the room.

Clint stopped her, his hand catching her arm gently with no force behind his movements, but the gesture was enough to stop her. "What are you doing here?" he repeated his initial question.

"Kristina asked me to come," Natasha responded. She met his surprised eyes for a few seconds before slipping past him and towards the stairs. As she started ascending them, Kristina appeared at the top.

"I can't sleep," Kristina mumbled rubbing her eyes. She looked at Natasha right as she was at the top of the stairs and her mouth opened his surprise at who it was and instantly hugged her tightly.

Natasha placed her hands under her arms and pulled her up to hold her properly. Kristina let go and wrapped her arms around her neck instead, snuggling up. Walking back into Kristina's room, Natasha sat down on the bed as she laid her down. She pried the child's arms off her. "Time to go sleep."

"Will you stay?"

Natasha nodded silently and went to stand up, believing that Kristina meant stay in the house and be there when she woke up. She halted when Kristina quickly grabbed her wrist.

"Will you stay here 'til I fall asleep?"

Natasha once again nodded and watched as Kristina slid over on the bed to make room. With a hint of hesitation which Kristina did not notice, she sat down on the bed, leaning against the headboard, although her feet were still planted on the floor. She trained her eyes on Kristina and observed that even though she was obviously tired, she kept opening her eyes and looking at her. Thinking back to a movie she watched a few years back, she closed her eyes and waited until she heard Kristina's breathing even out; she ignored the fact that Clint's footsteps were getting closer. She waited four minutes before opening her eyes and standing up, knowing that Kristina was asleep.

"You're good at that," Clint observed gently, stepping to one side so Natasha could walk past him.

"I got it from one of the films May insisted I watch."

"How come she never had kids?"

"I don't know," Natasha responded before walking back downstairs.

"You're annoyed with me?" Clint questioned, a hint of surprise lining his voice.

Natasha did not respond and walked into the kitchen and picked up her glass of water. It was only after she had taken a sip, checked her phone, and turned around, that she acknowledged his question and answered, "I am not annoyed with you."

Clint looked at her skeptically for a moment, but ultimately decided to not continue the conversation, which Natasha was thankful for. "How long-"

"I don't know, Clint," Natasha interrupted firmly. She had a very good idea what he was going to ask. She also understood the tension between the two of them, and she knew it was because of her. It wasn't because of what she confessed; it was how she had been acting: walking out, dodging calls, ignoring him. Coming back and ultimately being completely closed off towards him. "I am not going to just walk out on you or Kristina."

Clint nodded briefly. "How are the recruits?"

It was times like this that Natasha was honestly grateful that Clint knew her so well and didn't push for more information, he always said that she would 'come around in her own time'. And even though it took a _long_ time for her to 'come around,' he was usually patient. "They're fine. I still don't like your new haircut."

Clint ran a hand through his hair, which he used to have a centimeter longer. "It's been five years-"

"Six."

"Six next month," Clint clarified. "If you tell me why, I'll go back to my old hairstyle," he compromised. He had said that countless times before, but Natasha had never told him why.

She pursed her lips slightly, letting the silence fill between them and right before Clint was about to say something, she answered, "I liked running my hands through it; now it's too short."

Clint's lips turned upwards into a half smile, half smirk. "Really?" he asked, his voice laced with amusement at the new information.

"No."

"That _is_ interesting," Clint mused, his smile turning more into a smirk.

"See, this is why I don't tell you anything," Natasha said, slightly defensively.

"What?" Clint laughed, "I always knew you liked my hair." Natasha rolled her eyes and walked into the lounge, ignoring his laughter. "Okay, I'm sorry, I didn't expect you to say that." he confessed as he followed her into the lounge, sitting down on the couch at the same time as her.

"You're an insensitive jerk, you know that right?"

"I said I was sorry, what more do you want?"

"One hundred push-ups." Natasha replied simply with complete seriousness. She watched Clint sigh as he stood up before dropping down to the ground and doing them. Her lips turned upwards as she watched him complete the hundred push-ups with ease. "You haven't lost your touch."

* * *

Natasha's eyes sprang open, her reflexes jumping into action as her fingers wrapped around the gun under her pillow, slipping it out and aiming at the door, ready to fire. Her free hand braced her against the soft mattress as she listened to the gentle pitter-patter of footsteps make their way down the hallways towards the bedroom. She recognised the footsteps, but couldn't quite place them, was it one of her targets from a long-mission, or an associate. Was she in immediate threat which would cause her to make a mess in Clint's house or- suddenly she made the connection and slid the gun back under the pillow with her fingers still grasping it right before Kristina came bursting through the door.

"You're here! It wasn't a dream!" she exclaimed, a massive smile on her face.

Natasha released the gun as she noted that Kristina was still in her pyjama's. She pushed herself into a sitting position and planted a smile onto her face. "I am here," she confirmed before nudging Clint. She knew he was awake and she was not about to let him sleep in if she was getting up.

"I'm asleep," Clint muttered in reply, not moving.

Natasha sent a swift punch to his stomach, although not enough to actually cause injury. But he wouldn't be expecting it.

"Ow! Warning next time."

"Okay, this is your warning," Natasha replied with a smirk as she stood up and walked over to Kristina. "Let's go make breakfast."

"Okay! Can we have pancakes?"

"I suppose. You know how to make them, right?"

"I'm up, I'm up." Clint announced, practically falling out of bed with how quickly he was moving to stop either of them attempt to use the stove.

"Dad said I get my cooking skills from you," Kristina informed her.

"He said that, did he?" Natasha questioned, in which Kristina nodded innocently. "I'll deal with you later," she muttered to Clint, who was pulling a face like he knew what was coming, despite his ability to keep his smile going for Kristina. They followed her down at a gentle pace, not in a rush, unlike Kristina who jumped down the stairs and skidded into the kitchen.

As Clint began making the mixture for the pancakes from scratch, Natasha placed two slices of bread into the toaster, placing it on full. "You are not acting like yourself; you are not this open and jokey in-"

"This _is_ for Kristina," Natasha replied, bringing her voice even quieter than his. "I can't promise that I will always be truthful or honest with her, but I can at least be as open as I can manage."

"Thank you."

"It's not for you."

"There's smoke coming out of the toaster…"

Natasha and Clint instantly halted their quiet conversation; he pulled the plug while she hit the button allowing the very burnt toast to pop up. "You know you're not supposed to burn it."

"It's how I like it," Natasha retorted as she placed the burnt toast onto a plate before taking out the peanut butter.

"No, you don't," Clint commented and then after a moment of silence, he added, "Just don't burn the house down."

Natasha merely smirked in response as she took a seat and add her peanut butter on burnt bread.

"Can we spend the whole day together?" Kristina asked hopefully, her eyes darting between Clint and Natasha.

"You have to go school; we can spend time together afterwards," Clint responded as he poured some of the mixture into the pan.

"Oh," Kristina said with disappointment.

"What did you want to do after school?" Natasha inquired, to see if it were possible to plan something.

"Climbing, photos, drawing, swimming, dancing, a food fight!" Kristina listed.

"We will do some of those things when you get home from school," Natasha said after a moment's thought as she stored away the options to use for reference later.

Kristina grinned in response, which only grew when Clint planted a pancake onto the plate in front of her.

* * *

After a short discussion between Natasha and Clint, it was clear what they would do that day. Seeing as it was a Friday, Natasha would accompany Kristina to her ballet class-which ticked off the dancing option-after going out for a 'mother-daughter' meal. Tomorrow, Clint, Natasha and Kristina would all spend some time together as a family. They kept in mind Kristina's list and decided that taking a few photos wouldn't be a bad idea. Natasha left Clint in charged of the photo-taking.

Natasha had to shower before leaving to pick up Kristina, due to her intense work out and then 'intimate session' with Clint. She arrived at the gate early and leant against one of the trees, keeping herself completely engulfed in the shadows. Her eyes scanned all the faces of the parents, trying to press them into her memory. She observed their behaviours and how they interacted with one another, they way they held items in their hands from a drink to a teddy bear, the latter probably for their children as they exit. She silently hoped that Kristina wasn't the first child out, so she had chance to observe the interactions between mother and child, so she could take notes and take on the character for Kristina.

Her brows furrowed at the bored and annoyed looks some of the parents were giving about having to wait and the small complaints- if they didn't want to wait, why did they bother turning up early? Thankfully, she didn't have to endure much more complaints from the parents when the children were released. It seemed that a quarter of the students' main focuses was to get to their parents as quickly as possible, a fifth had no intention on going to their parents and seemed to either slowly make their way out of the building or run off and make their parents chase them. The majority of the students walked out in pairs or groups, casually making their way out of the building whilst talking to their friends. She noted that one parent picked up three girls, even though it was very unlikely they were all her children. She caught sight of Kristina as soon as she stepped out of the building with two girls, her being on the left of both of them, they were engaged in a conversation.

The three girls departed in different directions, with Kristina stopping and looking around with a slight worried expression. Natasha started over towards her when she noticed another mother start to talk to her, "Kristina."

Kristina spun around, relief sliding onto her face as a massive smile filled her lips. Natasha placed a hand on her shoulder, giving her a half hug as she looked at the women, "Hello, I'm Kristina's mother."

The women shifted on her feet for a moment, "I'm Connor's Mom. Kristina just looked a little bit lost." She offered a polite smile.

Natasha placed a soft smile on her lips, "Nice to meet you, I'm Natasha."

"I'm Naomi."

"Mom, Connor invited me to his birthday party, can I go?" Kristina asked.

"We'll have to check with your father, but I don't see why not," Natasha replied, before her and Naomi bidded each other a polite goodbye and Natasha steered Kristina towards the car.

"Where are we going? What are we going to do?" Kristina asked excited.

"We have about an hour and a half before your ballet class starts, so we'll have a little snack beforehand," Natasha informed her before they both slid into the car.

"Can we have McDonalds?"

"No," Natasha replied simply as she started driving. She noticed that Kristina seemed shocked at being told no and then not receiving an explanation for the rejection of her idea, and it took a while before she was able to compose herself properly.

"Why?"

"Because it is not appropriate to eat fast food right before a dance class," Natasha responded, ignoring the pout that made its way onto Kristina's lips. Even though she did not respond, it was obvious that Kristina was not entirely happy about the prospect that she shouldn't eat McDonalds before dancing. She was tempted to tell Kristina that they could have it after dance, but remained silent because she didn't agree with fast-food in general.

They went to a small restaurant, where Kristina opted for a grilled-cheese and milkshake-Which Natasha noted was rather unhealthy too. Natasha decide to have chicken soup and a bread roll. "Are you and Dad married?" Kristina asked suddenly in between bites.

"No."

"Oh. That's like Jenny's parents. They aren't married, but they were," Kristina responded. She barely waited to finish her next mouthful before continuing her questing, "Are you going to get married?"

"There are no plans to, we are not engaged."

"But are you going to get married one day?" Kristina asked.

"Probably not," Natasha responded.

"Why? Don't you two love each other?" Kristina questioned, tilting her head to the side.

Natasha bit her tongue slightly, there were many responses that came to her, but none of them which would stop the question or satisfy Kristina. She dipped her buttered roll into the soup and took a bite, watching Kristina grow slightly impatient and anxious for an answer, finally, she got one, "You have to talk to your father about this matter."

"Why?"

"Because he will answer."

Kristina nodded, it was clear she realised that Natasha wasn't the kind of person to answer all of her questions, "Are you going to live with us forever?"

Natasha felt herself take a deep breath, keeping her composure, the constant questions were actually getting on her nerves now, now that she was attempting to be open. She couldn't exactly just ignore or deflect every question the child asked, even though it was extremely tempting.

"Is that a no?" Kristina asked after a long stretch of silence.

"I cannot answer something that I do not know the answer to," Natasha answered.

"My teacher says that there is no wrong answer."

"Your teacher is wrong, there is a wrong answer to most questions," Natasha responds.

"Really? What would the wrong answer be?"

"In the case of your last question about whether or not I will live with you and Clint forever, a wrong answer would include; anything that would upset you, anything which is untrue. So, I couldn't say yes, because I know that when you grow up, you and Clint would not live together, because you'll get your own place- so that would be a lie. I can't say no, because that could upset you."

Kristina looked slightly confused but nodded along anyway before finishing her grilled-cheese and drinking the rest of her milkshake. Natasha checked the time and knew that it was too early to take her to class. "Do you like school?"

Kristina nodded quickly, putting her milkshake down and smile, "I do! Jenny and Rachel are my best friends! And I'm friends with Emma, Connor, Chris and Lauren! School is so much fun and the teachers are really nice… well, apart from Mr. Ang, he glares at everybody. He is always miserable and _talks like this_." She expressed, deepening her voice as much as she could and talking the last three words in monotone.

After another 20 minutes of school discussion, they made their way to Kristina's ballet class, turning up just over fifteen minutes early. Whilst waiting, Natasha helped Kristina to stretch, having to stick with more basic stretches as she wasn't as she wasn't adapt to stretching her body. She appeared to be to be of just above average flexibility; she made a mental note to help her outside of class to help her catch up with her classmates.

It wasn't long until Kristina was talking to another child and walking over to the bars, ready for the class. Natasha simply leant back and watched the children practice, fond memories of when she danced filling her mind. Dance was still something that was pure in her mind, regardless of the fear which was installed into her when she was taught as a child. But none of that mattered, because write now, a smile graced her lips as she watched ever turn, move and bend. In this way, Natasha didn't mind if Kristina was like her.


	10. Chapter Nine

**Author's note:**

 **Firstly, I would just like to give a shout out to my amazing beta, who has inspired me in so many ways- but remember, she's _mine... so no stealing her!_ \- Thank you so much for being incredible: Sanctuaria!**

 **Right, Two massive thank you's to the amazing and consistent reviewers, both whom reviewed my last chapter and make writing this story worth it: discordchick and Sanctuaria!**

* * *

Natasha pressed herself against the wall; if she was noticed she'd be dead and that meant that Kristina would be in danger of getting shot. Her eyes flicked around her surroundings, keeping one eye on Kristina. She stepped and rolled to the other side of the wall, firing and shooting an opponent, right before they were about to fire upon her daughter. She knew that both herself and Clint was protecting Kristina from getting shot, but she couldn't lose focus; she couldn't lose against him. "Stay closer to the walls, it makes you a harder target." She advised Kristina quickly as she nudged her towards a wall before shooting two more opponents. She saw another being shot and followed the eyeline to see if it was another opponent or Clint.

As Clint aimed his gun at her, she jumped around the corner and rolled back on herself, running for shelter whilst shooting at him. Unfortunately, he dodged her shots. She chanced a glance, needing to locate Kristina to make sure she was safe. Suddenly she heard Kristina's voice, "No! I'm dead!"

Natasha sighed. She really needed to teach Kristina how to defend herself better: she was useless at this It was actually a challenge to keep her alive as long as she did. Glancing around, she noticed Clint showing Kristina where to go and slid out, shooting him square in the chest repeatedly. She couldn't help the smirk form on her lips as she ducked off and prepared herself for his counter-attack. The stakes were raised now that Kristina was out of play, because it meant they had to finish up as quickly as they could; after all, they couldn't leave a ten-year-old unattended.

Minutes later, Natasha walked over to Kristina, a smug look on her face after beating Clint at a match of laser-tag; this game really was fun. Her smile instantly turned into a glare when the flash of a camera went off, she stared at the culprit; Clint. "You said I was in charge of the photos." He commented in defence, snapping another photograph.

* * *

Stretching her back and leg muscles, Natasha watched Clint lifting weights, on his last set of their session. She stood up straight as he placed them down and picked up a towel to wipe his forehead, which was dripping with sweat. As if somebody knew Natasha had just finished her work out, her phone began to ring. With little enthusiasm, she picked up the phone, glancing at the caller ID and answering it, "Romanoff."

"Hello Natasha, just checking in," Steve replied, his voice calm and soft. Natasha was curious why he seemed so incredibly relaxed when it was only 2 P.M.; surely he should be doing something.

"I'm alive," Natasha replied, never quite knowing what exactly Steve wanted to here when he was 'checking in'. "I am thinking about heading back this Thursday, expecting to arrive at 3:30 P.M."

"That sounds perfect to me, we could really use you around here," Steve admitted, the slight relief in his voice.

"What's going on there?" Natasha inquired, grabbing her water-bottle and taking a few long gulps to replenish her thirst.

"It is all going good, Rhodey and Wilson, both know how to train and they bounce ideas off each other a lot. Vision is exceeding very well, learning his barriers, limits and better control over his powers. Wanda has maintained control over her powers and is growing stronger everyday-"

"How is Wanda's sparring and fighting skills?" She inquired, interrupting Steve.

"She's a bit behind on her physical strength and speed, but I've been working with her independently a couple times a week, which seems to be helping. Likely she's never had a reason to train her body like this before, unlike the other recruits."

"Pair her with Falcon, get him to help her with the fighting, it would be good for her to have another's perspective," Natasha advised, she knew Falcon and knew that he would be helpful and gentle when coaching and sparring with Wanda.

"I'll pair them in training today," Steve said. A voice, which sounded a lot like Vision, faded through the phone, however, Natasha couldn't make out the words. "Take care, Natasha, I'll talk to you later."

"Bye," Natasha replied before hanging up.

* * *

Natasha took a deep breath as she stopped and placed her gun onto the holster on her thigh, she had worked out for three hours straight. She wasn't planning on working out for this long, but she was waiting for Clint, who had left thirty minutes ago to take a call and had not returned. Originally, she had planned on cutting her workout short as she was leaving to return to Avengers compound later in the day. Curiosity got the better of her as she made her way out of the attic to see where he had gotten to, she told herself it was just to know what type of workout she should move onto. She appreciated that Clint still worked out with her the majority of the time, keeping both of their skills sharp, even though he had officially left the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. no longer really existed. Although, the latter was getting rebuilt. As she walked into the lounge, her eyes flew over every inch of the room and she listened out for movement; there was none. Her defences instantly kicked in as she pulled out her gun and moved from the lounge into the kitchen, she spun around carefully, looking for clues. She noticed slight movement in the backyard and glanced out of the kitchen window. Almost immediately, her gun was back in its holder and walked out, "Clint."

Clint looked up at her, remaining seated on the newly bought swing set. His eyes fluttered closed for a moment as he spoke, "It's nothing."

"Doesn't look like nothing," Natasha commented as she approached the swing set. Her hand caught the chain of the swing, stopping Clint from the gentle rocking motion as she moved and stood in front of him. "Talk to me."

Clint's eyes opened and instantly met hers, "It's Bobbi-" he started but did not finish as he looked down.

Natasha knew he couldn't maintain eye contact without revealing how worried and concerned he was over his ex. She also knew that Clint hardly talked about Bobbi with her because she did get a _little_ jealous-Just a little. "What happened?"

Clint sighed, but opened up when she took one of his hands, "She's in pretty bad shape, got kidnapped and tortured by a HYDRA agent by the name of Ward-" He gently tugged her hand closer to him, making her step forward and place her other hand on his shoulder, "Hunter was the one who called me."

Natasha was tempted to ask if Bobbi and Hunter were back together, which usually would prompt Clint to tease her about being jealous. Although, she could tell this wasn't one of those moments, "Go and see her then."

Clint's head snapped up, his eyes instantly meeting hers and he didn't even bother to hide the shock. Firstly, because Natasha blatantly didn't like that he was still friends with her and she had made it clear she would never be happy with it. Secondly, she just inwardly offered to look after Kristina by herself. There was an unspoken look between them, and when she nodded, a ghost of a smile appeared on his lips. "Are you sure?" he verbally asked.

"Do you want me to take my offer back?" Natasha asked.

Clint shook his head, "Thank you, Tasha." He said genuinely as he stood up and hugged her, she returned it.

"You go, I've got Kristina. Call me with an update," Natasha said pulling out of the hug. He nodded, planted a quick, yet deep kiss against her lips before jogging into the house to grab a bag of things to leave. She tugged her hair out of her face before pulling out her phone, taking a breath and calling Steve.

"Rogers,"

"Steve, I have some bad news," Natasha started, she stopped for a moment when she heard Steve out of breath. Looks like he was doing something this time, "Clint had to go on a mission, of sorts. So, I have to stay here a few days longer. As soon as he gets back, I'll come, okay?"

"That is fine, I hope everything's okay," Steve said with concern lacing his voice. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Just train those recruits, I want them perfect for when I get back," Natasha stated. "I'll call you later." She said hanging up before walking into the house after Clint.

* * *

Natasha slowly made her way around the house and to Kristina's school to pick her up, she was tempted to jog there instead of taking the car. But it was a long distance for Kristina to walk or run at such a young age and she would have just finished her sports club. She approached the school, seeing it less busy then when picking her up straight after class.

As she walked up to the gate, she recognised Connor's Mom, Naomi, and approached her, "Naomi, I didn't realise Connor was in the same sports club."

"Yes, I think he actually convinced Kristina to join it," she replied before adding, "He seems very fond of her."

Natasha frowned darkly, "What?"

Naomi laughed at her expression, "Yes, I have a little girl too. That would be my reaction too."

"Fond in what way?" Natasha asked for more clarification, forcing herself to not interrogate her.

"It's just an innocent little crush," Naomi assured.

Natasha dropped the issue and nodded, "Clint had to pop out of town for a while. What are the arrangements for the birthday party?"

Naomi instantly dug into her bag, "I have a few spare invitations- Children always lose them- just, here we go." She held it out.

Natasha took it and read over the invitation, memorising it and offering it back, "She'll be just over an hour late, as she has ballet. Is that okay?"

"Of course, I'll write that down- Keep the invitation."

Natasha nodded, folding and placing it into her back pocket as the children started coming out. Kristina's expression was bright and happy as she ran over to her, "You're still here!"

Natasha took a small breath, "Yes, I am." She confirmed, "Let's go." She said as she lead Kristina off, who waved to Connor. After getting in the car, Natasha started speaking before Kristina could start her usually rambling. "Your father had to go out of town."

"What?" Kristina spluttered out, "He's gone? Why?"

"Bobbi got injured on a mission-"

"BOBBI'S HURT!" Kristina cried, leaning forward in her seat with wide fear-ridden eyes, her mouth open in shock.

Natasha blinked and glanced at Kristina in the mirror as she started driving, she took a second or two to work out what to say, "Your father went to visit her, she's alive and shouldn't take too long to heal completely."

"Is she okay? Can we see her?" Kristina almost demanded.

"She will be fine, and no, we cannot."

"That's not fair! I want to see her!" Kristina grumped, folding her arms and glaring it protest.

"You can't," Natasha repeated.

"I wish Dad was here, he would let me."

"Too bad he's not here then," Natasha replied, her lips tight, her eyes focused on the road.

"I'm going to call him," Kristina mumbled to herself. Natasha's hand darted backwards, grabbing the phone from her which she had just gotten out of her bag. "HEY! THAT'S MINE! GIVE IT BACK!"

"Sit back, Kristina."

"You can't tell me what to do!" Kristina screamed in protest.

Natasha pulled the car over and turned around, "Yes I can, I am your mother and am currently in charge of you. If you don't want to listen to me, you can get out of this car right now and I'll leave without _ever_ returning." She said harshly.

Kristina sat back, crossing her arms as she attempted not to cry. Natasha turned back around and continued to drive without saying another word, ignoring the fact that as soon as she turned away, Kristina's attempts failed and tears began to slide down her daughter's face. Neither of them uttered a word for the rest of the journey. When they reached the house, Natasha slipped out of the car, sliding Kristina's phone into her back jean pocket, she noticed that she hadn't made any attempts to get out of the car. She walked around and opened the door for her, "Are you going to get out?" she asked the crying child.

"No- you said you'd leave me," Kristina whimpered.

"We're at home, you can get out. I won't leave," Natasha assured, only to receive Kristina shaking her head and remaining strapped in. She sighed, she had been alone with the child for less than twenty minutes and had already messed up. Kneeling down, she unstrapped her, "Kristina, I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere. Let's go inside." she said as softly as she could.

Kristina sniffled, wiping her eyes. She slowly swung her legs around and stood up, but when Natasha took a step back to give her room, she freaked and literally jumped forward, wrapping her arms around Natasha's neck. "Please don't leave me, I'll be good," she cried.

Natasha swung the car door closed and locked it with one hand before embracing Kristina, rubbing her back, "I'm not going anywhere." Natasha knew instantly that Kristina wasn't going to let go anytime soon, but she waited a few long minutes before hoisting her up and carrying her into the house.

* * *

Natasha sat on the unmoving treadmill, the phone to her ear as she listened to the long rings.

"Hey Nat-"

"You need to come back now, I can't do this."

There was a moment of silence, "It's been 6 hours since I left you, 3 since you would have picked her up-how bad could it be?"

"She was crying for over an hour! Get home now!" Natasha ordered.

"What- How did you manage- She's still in one piece right?" Clint asked, genuine worry that Natasha somehow injured Kristina.

"She's fine- physically."

Clint sighed, "Natasha-"

"No, don't do this to me Clint."

"- I am just about to land, I haven't even _seen_ Bobbi yet. Just get her to school tomorrow morning, _in one piece_ , and then we'll talk again. She should be going sleep in a few hours-"

"She's already asleep," Natasha informed him, it seemed that after crying for over an hour, finally eating dinner, children got really tired. After a stretch of silence from Clint, she heard the engines powering down meaning he had reached his destination, "Send Bobbi my regards and glare at Hunter for me."

"I'll call you later, okay?"

"Bye," Natasha said but didn't hang up. She didn't want to.

"Bye Natasha," he replied. She then wondered if he always said that even after she had hung up. "Is there anything else?" he asked her.

"No, just…. bye." She hung up the phone before closing her eyes and sighing. Her moment was short lived as she heard the light footsteps on the stairs. Within seconds she was standing up, up the stairs and walking into the lounge, "Kristina, I thought you were in bed."

"I woke up and you weren't there," She replied with a pout.

"Well, I'm here," Natasha replied, matter-of-factly. "Your bedtime isn't for another hour or so, did you want to do your homework?"

Kristina shook her head, "I've already done it."

Natasha nodded, "You can do whatever you like then."

"Can I sleep in your bed tonight?" Kristina asked, looking up at Natasha pleadingly.

Natasha smiled softly, "Of course you can, I'll just sleep on the couch."

Kristina's mouth dropped open in utter confusion, she was stuck for words for a moment, "What? No, I want- Why- I meant, can I sleep in a bed with you?"

"What? That's strange, why would you want to share a bed with me?" Natasha asked, completely nonplussed by the suggestion.

"B-but- you'll protect me… from… from the monsters! And you won't leave.. and I'll know you're there!"

Natasha leveled her eyes on Kristina, "Monsters can't get into this house, Clint put up enough security to stop them. And if they get close, I'll be alerted." She walked over to Kristina, "And I'm not going anywhere, I promise. If I did, your father would kill me."

"What!" Kristina said, eyes instantly wide and fearful.

"Shi- No, he won't. I was making a joke…" Natasha almost groaned, she was awful at being a mother, how was she going to get out of this one. She was never making a joke again, Clint always made them look so easy. "Did you want to watch a singing movie? Eat some ice cream? Call Steve or Falcon? Jump on the bed? Learn to shoot a gun? Learn to fight? Go bungee jumping? Attempt making a pizza from scratch? Learn another language? Stretch?" she listed every single option she had heard anybody use when trying to comfort a child; of course, she knew that some of the examples were not from very good role models.

"Can I sleep in your bed with you?" Kristina repeated, keeping the same sad eyes, although the rest of her expression was a little overwhelmed with all of the suggestions.

"Fine," Natasha relented. "Now, go to bed, and when you wake up in the _morning_ , I'll be there. Satisfied?"

Kristina nodded, before hugging Natasha, she let go and waited, "Are you not coming too?"

"No, I'll come up later," Natasha replied with a soft smile. With Kristina's disappointed look, she held back a sigh and took Kristina's hand, leading her upstairs, "You sure you don't want to sleep in your own bed?"

Kristina shook her head and allowed Natasha to lead her into her parents bedroom.

Natasha tucked Kristina in on Clint's side and half-laid down, half sat down on the bed, as she waited for Kristina to fall asleep. Thankfully, Kristina fell back to sleep rather quickly, and after leaving a grace period to insure getting up wouldn't wake her, Natasha got up and went back downstairs. She wanted to gather her thoughts and have some time alone to plan out every possibility of what could happen with Kristina and plan backup plans for every possibility.

* * *

 **I'd love a review! I have some lovely (or not so lovely) plans in the upcoming chapters. And now would be the perfect time to have appearances from other characters, so let me know who you want to see! I have one request already! :)**

 **Expect the next chapter on Tuesday or Wednesday!**


	11. Chapter Ten

**Author's note:**

 **Thank you very much for the staggering amount of support I received on my last chapter! It has amazed me. So, thank you to the SIX who reviewed:** **Deductions-of-Sherlolly; Guest; ; Fury-Natalia; discordchick; Sanctuaria.**

 **Hope you guys don't mind a slightly shorter chapter, I wanted to post when I said I would.**

* * *

Natasha's eyes were closed, but currently she would be considered to be resting, not sleeping. She was on high alert, especially seeing as Kristina had woken up three times during the night to see if Natasha was still there. It was a little annoying to verbally inform somebody you were there, even though they could physically see you. The morning had some how gone smoothly so far, with Kristina following her orders and getting ready in record time. They drove to the school, with small conversations about ballet. Kristina hadn't uttered a word about Clint or Bobbi since Natasha's outburst yesterday, and Natasha had to admit, she was slightly relieved.

She pulled up and parked at Kristina's school, getting out of the car; that was when deja vu hit her, Kristina remained in the car. Mirroring her movements from the day before, she walked around the car and opened Kristina's door, "Are you going to get out?" She physically sighed when Kristina shook her head. "What possible reason do you have to not get out this time?"

"You're going to leave me here,"

"Of course I am, it's Friday and you need to go to school."

"B-but-"

"Okay, Kristina, you are going to march into that school. I _will_ pick you up afterwards; that is a promise." Natasha said, holding out her hand for Kristina, which was slowly accepted, and helped her out of the car. She offered a small hug, before hoisting her bag out of the car and handing it to her.

Kristina reluctantly walked into her school, sparing many glances back at Natasha.

Natasha waited for a few minutes after Kristina had walked into the school before getting back in the car and driving home. Once home, she played with her phone for a few minutes while making herself an early lunch before calling Clint.

He answered almost immediately, "Hey Tasha, having fun?"

"I can hear the amusement on your voice," Natasha noted as she sat down on the edge of the couch. "Are you on your way back?"

"Not yet," Clint replied, his tone serious.

"How's Bobbi?"

"Bad."

Natasha sighed, closing her eyes for a moment. Judging by his tone, she knew that he wanted to stay and help her; but from the sounds of it, she wouldn't be physically healed for weeks or even months. She knew it would be insensitive if she demanded that he came home, when Bobbi's life had been in jeopardy. "It's Saturday tomorrow, she has a party."

"Is she okay?"

"She is very clingy. She has a party."

"I think you just drop her off there at the beginning and then pick her up when it's due to finish," Clint answered her silent question.

"Alone?" Natasha asked, having an unsettled churn in her stomach at the thought of leaving Kristina unattended at somebody else's house; was it normal for parents to leave children with other parents, even though they don't actually know them?

There was a long silence, "Check when you get there."

Natasha sighed at the prospect of having to talk to other parents and remain civil, "This parent stuff is just-"

"Has the super-spy met her-"

"I will kill you if you finish that sentence," Natasha interrupted, her voice threatening.

"Tell Kristina I love and miss her," Clint replied, obviously choosing to not finish his sentence. "And don't forget to tell her that you love her too- every day."

"Every day?"

"Yes, nighttime is the easiest, right before she goes sleep. But, you can say it multiple times," Clint informed her.

"Duly noted."

"You will need to buy Kristina a princess outfit for the party, she said she wanted to be Elsa. Can you do that?"

"I'll go now," Natasha said hanging up.

* * *

Natasha kept her mouth tightly closed as she parked her car back at the house, she was very close to exploding and vowed never to let Kristina have a birthday party. She practically jumped out of the car, closing the door a bit too loudly and waited for Kristina to silently get out of the car before locking it.

"I am sorry," Kristina mumbled in apology as she looked down.

"We will talk about it later, let's go in," Natasha said walking into the house, waiting for Kristina to get in before closing and locking the door. As Kristina stepped further into the house, Natasha pounced, pulling Kristina behind her as her eyes flickered around the surrounding area. With a firm and protective hand on her arm, she guided Kristina around the room, aiming to get her into the basement, where there was a panic room.

"What's-"

"Shush."

"It's just me," Clint's voice came, as he poked his head out with a smirk plastered on his face. "Miss me?" he added.

"No," Natasha responded with a glare at him for not giving her any warning as she released Kristina's arm.

"Yes!" Kristina squeaked as she raced across the room and jumped into his arms.

Clint hugged her back, before questioning, "Why are you both covered in cake?" Natasha almost growled at the memory of the party. Clint laughed, "Does this mean I shouldn't ask about the mess in the kitchen?"

"We tried cooking…" Kristina informed him, but her voice drifted off at the end.

"I will let you two catch up," Natasha spoke as she started to walk off, but Clint's voice stopped her only for a few moments.

"I just got here."

"I _need_ a shower." She stated before walking upstairs.

Natasha had ventured down for dinner, but disappeared soon afterwards. She knew she should be more interactive but she just needed some space; she could not comprehend how Clint managed to take care of Kristina with such ease. She looked up, not allowing herself to show any expressions as Clint walked in.

"I've put Kristina to bed," he told her with a neutral expression. "Should I ask…"

Natasha groaned, "Don't ask."

"The house is still standing, there are no injuries on Kristina, you also seem uninjured. I'll say it went well," Clint commented.

"She's alive," Natasha confirmed.

"You look like you're ready to massacre a village right now," Clint observed as he sat down on the bed beside her.

Natasha looked at him, meeting his eyes for the first time since he returned, "How do you do it? With such ease. How can you have more than a conversation with her… with _any_ child, for that matter. In a matter of hours alone with her, I threatened to abandon her and had her in tears. She looks terrified every time I walk out of the room… In a matter of hours, I lost _all_ of her trust and it is impossible to get it back."

"I doubt you lost all…"

"Clint, she _knew_ you were going to come back and you left without saying goodbye. If I go to the bathroom while she's watching a film, she watches me like a hawk- she honestly thinks I am just going to disappear on her. I couldn't get her to sleep, eat, do homework or even draw unless I was with her," Natasha confessed.

"She's just scared. Her whole life people _have_ just left."

"And me threatening to leave… probably rattled her."

"Exactly," Clint said taking her hand. "All you need to do is prove that you will come back, you will be there when she needs you and that she doesn't have to fear that you'll randomly leave her alone in the middle of the night."

Natasha nodded, absorbing in all the information, "I'm glad you're back." She informed him, before shifting into a more comfortable position on the bed. "How is Bobbi?"

"Remember the condition you were left in after Dubai?" Clint asked, to which Natasha nodded. "She's worse than that."

Natasha closed her eyes for a second, "Have they caught Ward yet?"

"No."

"Any leads?"

"No."

"Are they even trying?"

"They're spread thin at the moment, they don't have enough resources to do a man-hunt," Clint informed her with a frown of disapproval. "He's getting away with it; he almost killed her."

"You want to go after him," Natasha stated and after a moment's thought added. "I'll go. I'll search him out."

"Give him hell."

* * *

 **Thank you for reading. Next chapter within the next week.**


	12. Chapter Eleven

**Author's Note:**

 **Amazing response on my last chapter! Thank you so much to** **BookLuv; Phoenix1966; discordchick; Sanctuaria; Ninja0404 is a fanfiction geek. I am eternally grateful to all of you!**

 **Big shout-out to my amazing beta; Sanctuaria!**

* * *

Natasha didn't hesitate to pack her go bag, but did pace herself on the Sunday to not make it seem like she was rushing out the door at the first opportunity. She made sure to spend as much of the morning as possible with Kristina, which was a lot easier now that Clint was here. Thankfully Kristina understood that Natasha had to go on an important mission, and it wasn't just her leaving. There was only a few tears when she left from Kristina, but nothing like how Natasha had experienced in the previous days.

Natasha drove up to the Avenger compound, thinking about what came ahead. She needed to research Ward and work out his most likely patterns, as well as get in contact with some former associates of hers. She knew better than to jump head first into a locate-and-kill mission, because those were usually sloppy and half the time, you end up just travelling in circles with no actual destination or plan. By the time she arrived and parked, it was the early evening. She also knew she needed to sort out things with Steve as well as get some training of her own in to make sure she was the best she could be; she did not want any chance of letting Ward get away. She didn't care what it took...he was going down one way or another.

"Natasha, welcome back," Steve welcomed warmly, offering a hug.

"Not a social visit, Steve. I'm here searching for leads. I will train with the recruits, but I have a mission which I must carry out," Natasha answered, although, her words contradicted her actions, as she actually did accept the hug, even though it barely lasted a second.

"Is there anything I can help with?"

"Actually, yes. I need to find somebody."

"Finding people aren't my strength… although, my best leads have come from Sam," Steve admitted.

Natasha nodded, "Any luck on Bucky?"

"We found one of his old hide-outs, so we're getting really close; it's only a matter of time," Steve stated optimistically.

Natasha tilted her head to the side in thought, "How did you know it was Bucky's hideout?" she questioned. She knew that very, very little, if any, of a person is left after brainwashing. It would take a lot to get that person back in any capacity with help, but on their own when they are out of time; surely there wouldn't be anything to recognise.

"It was him," Steve said confidently.

Natasha supposed that seeing Steve must have triggered some of Bucky's old personality, or there was substantial proof. But she decided against prying right now, she needed to find Ward. She rested a soft hand on his shoulder for a second before walking off without another word. If Falcon was good at finding people or has contacts, then he _would_ be helping.

* * *

Natasha's lips were pursed, her brow creased, her fingers delicately swish across the tablet as her eyes dart over the information. With a growl-similar to a tiger-she threw the expensive tablet across the room, shattering the screen with a loud thud.

"Woah!"

Natasha looked up at the sound and saw Falcon crouched with scared expression on his face, "How long have you been there?" she asked.

"Like… two seconds. I swear. I stepped in and you threw the tablet at me..."

"I didn't throw it at you, I threw it because I didn't like the information," Natasha told him.

Falcon stood up and walked over, "I had a lead on that guy you asked me to look in to." He informed her as he handed a USB over to her. "He has stayed local, I have had two sightings from him in the same neighbourhood this morning; it doesn't look like he's hiding."

"Cocky idiot," Natasha said as she accepted the USB and stood up, needing to find a computer to look at the file. She walked past Falcon, but stopped before reaching the door and looking at him, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Falcon replied with a smile on his face.

* * *

With a quick intake of breath, Natasha picked up her phone, "What?"

"How's the hunt for Ward coming?" Clint asked down the line.

"Fine," Natasha replied shortly. "I'm calling in the leads to Coulson."

"What? Are you crazy? I told you that they don't have the resources or people at the moment," Clint exploded suddenly. "You promised that you'd take down that jerk for Bob; she is in the hospital because…"

"Save me the lecture," Natasha grunted. She squeezed her eyes closed for a moment before looking down at her broken elbow. She knew she should just hang up and get somebody to help her set it, but she needed to get somebody to go after Ward. "I spoke to May-"

"With actual words?"

"And it is personal for her," Natasha finished, completely ignoring his little dig about how much May and she would talk when they were together. "We'll get him."

She called hear him shaking his head through the phone, "I've never seen you back out of a fight unless you physically were unable to… are you injured?"

"I am fine," Natasha lied. "This is the best way forward, I am not going to rush in blindfolded. You don't send the Avengers to get a cat out of a tree." She dropped the phone when Clint hung up; he was obviously upset with her.

She quickly prodded her fingers over her elbow, gritting her teeth, and she was now certain it was broken; she had been hoping her first diagnosis was wrong and that it was just dislocated. Quickly she typed in Coulson's number, but then after a seconds thought, she deleted it and dialed May instead.

"May."

"I have a location on Ward."

"Send it over."

Natasha gave a short nod, even though May couldn't see her and hung up, she quickly attached and sent all of the relevant information over. With a sigh, she stood up, she wondering if Dr. Cho had created a machine to repair broken bones in a couple of hours instead of just muscle tissue. Sliding her phone into her pocket, she shortly considered calling Clint back and explaining what was going on, but decided against it. Her face was neutral and showed no signs of pain as she pushed the door open and exited.

"Natasha, do you know what's wrong with Wanda?" Steve asked as she rounded a corner.

"We hit a little problem during training,; she'll be fine," Natasha replied with a one shouldered shrug, keeping her body at a 90 degree angle. "Are there doctors around here?"

"Doctor's? There's a hospital wing or infirmary on the east side' doctors are called in when needed," Steve replied. "Was Wanda injured?"

"No, physically she's fine," Natasha replied. A sigh left her lips as she recalled using that same phrase to describe Kristina; who may have been physically fine, but she wasn't fine in any other capacity.

"What happened with Wanda?" Steve asked, concern etched across his face.

Natasha let out a swoof of air, "She lost control, simple." She turned and pointed at her elbow, "Do you know how to set a broken elbow? It hurts."

The look on Steve's face-one of concern-made her roll her eyes in annoyance. Before he had chance to speak and release the unstoppable amount of irrational and genuine concern which he gives to every person he encountered, she turned and walked off.

* * *

"Take a seat," the doctor said. Natasha complied and watched intently as the doctor first examined the skin at face value. "No lacerations." She forced herself to not react when her light fingers palpate around the elbow, the doctor's lips tightened, before her other fingers took Natasha's pulse at the wrist.

"What's wrong?"

There was a long silence, before, "Your blood flow is normal; can you move your fingers?" Natasha moved three, but as she started to wriggle her other two, the doctor ordered her to stop. She examined and palpated her hand, wrist, upper arm, lower arm and shoulder. "Are you able to straighten your elbow? Please stop if there's any pain."

Natasha gritted her teeth as she started to straighten her arm, but stopped about halfway, defeat crossing over her face. "I can't."

"Let's get an X-ray to just confirm my theory."

Natasha agreed and went through the long and tedious process of being X-rayed, she then had to wait for the doctor to examine the X-rays- all so she could just get her arm set back into place. This is why she hated hospitals and doctors, everything by the book.

"It's not a normal facture; your elbow has displaced slightly, because your distal humerus has been shattered; it's not like any injury I've seen," the doctor stated. "How did it happen?"

"I fell."

The doctor sighed, obviously not believing her. "I will shift it back into place and I'd recommend wearing a cast for a week, just so it can have chance to set properly. Then there will be a series of exercises to do a couple of times a days-"

"How long until it's back to normal?" Natasha asked.

"Six weeks for it to heal, but it can take up to six months for it be back to normal-if it goes back to normal,"

"If? It's just a broken bone."

"I will want to monitor your elbow, to ensure that it heals correctly," the doctor assured her. "Now, I am going to put you under regional anesthesia and re-set your elbow properly."

"Fine," Natasha agreed civilly. She picked up her phone and fiddled it with-and she never fiddled with anything-before relenting and calling Kristina's phone. She should be home from school by now.

"Uhh… Hi?"

"Hello Kristina, it's Na-Mom," Natasha greeted.

"Hi! How are you? How's the mission? Is Steve with you? Are you coming home? Are you home?" Kristina asked, getting more excited and high-pitched with every question.

"I'm fine, the mission is… standard. Yes, Steve is in the same building, but not directly with me at the moment. I am not on my way home, nor am I home at the moment. How are you?" Natasha replied in detail before asking a simple question, knowing that only a simple one was needed to receive the same level of detail or more.

"I am good," Kristina answered shortly and then remained quiet for a long pause. "Can you come home now?" she asked, her voice quiet.

"Is everything okay?" Natasha asked.

"I just… I miss you. It was so much fun with you… like when we tried making curry and I spilled the sauce on the side and then there was too much chicken in it and it bubbled over the pan," she sniffled, "and then at the party, when I split the icing on my dress, you came over and smeared icing in your hair and then dropped cake on me and started the food fight. It was so fun and nobody knew that I made a mess and you didn't care that you got messy either. And… and I miss how you sang to me to put me to sleep- I don't do those things with Dad. He likes everything clean, if I spill something, he wants it cleaned up straight away. But you don't mind… and I want to do some gardening, but I only want to do it with you," Kristina confessed with raw emotion and longing.

Natasha smiled, "I am sure that your father is more fun than I am."

"Nope," Kristina answered with certainty.

Natasha laughed, "Don't tell your father that, he'll get jealous. And don't tell him that I sung to you." She looked down at her arm and pursed her lips in thought, "I have to tell you something. I have injured my arm…"

"Are you okay? Do they need to chop it off?"

"They aren't going to chop it off. It will be fine in a few weeks; it just hurts right now. But it does mean that I cannot drive home right now, I can't drive for a week or two. Do you understand?" Natasha asked softly. She looked at the doctor, wondering why it was taking so long for her to reset her elbow.

"I understand, can I come and see you? Dad can drive; he'll understand too!" Kristina said with increasing excitement once again. There was a distinctive shuffling of feet which meant she was moving.

"Wait! Kris! Please, please do not tell your father that I got injured. As soon as I can drive, I'll come back," Natasha said quickly.

"Oh… Okay, I won't tell him. Just promise me that you're okay," Kristina compromised.

"I promise, I am okay," Natasha assured, she looked up when the doctor tried to get her attention. "I need to go, I'll call you later." Natasha hung up and put her stopwatch on.

* * *

Natasha rotated on the balls on her feet, turning her body slowly and controlled, before stepping out and skipping into a flip. She landed softly, but quickly bent her knees and crouched to keep her balance. Closing her eyes she rotated her casted arm before standing back up and continuing her balancing and gymnastic training. She felt the buzz of her mobile phone and stopped her movements almost instantly.

Natasha didn't even look at the caller ID; she knew who was calling and what they were going to say, almost to the word, "Romanoff."

"You're injured and you didn't tell me?"

"Twenty-seven minutes, I'm impressed," Natasha said as she took slow, long steps around the room.

"Excuse me?"

"It took almost half an hour from telling Kristina that I was injured, for you to call me. Personally, I expected you to call me within minutes," Natasha confessed.

"What happened?" Clint asked, not taking her bait to keep the conversation away from her injury.

"I just injured my elbow," Natasha answered vaguely. But after a long few minutes she hung up. She knew he had wanted her to expand and give more information and in recent months she had been, a lot more than she had ever done. She didn't answer but she realised exactly what had made her truly open up, what had changed her from the cold-blooded killer, from the Black Widow to a person, to Natasha Romanoff. As much as she believed it was all for Clint, she knew it wasn't, and she was angry at herself for not seeing it sooner. Before Clint had chance to call her back, she dialed Kristina.

"I'm sorry, he forced me to talk," Kristina instantly cried down the phone.

"Don't worry about it, Kris. I don't mind. You can always tell your father or me anything," Natasha assured her.

"You're not mad?"

"Not at all," Natasha told her. "I called to make sure that you knew that I wasn't mad at you and that I love you. Okay?"

"Okay, I love you too," Kristina replied, seeming a lot calmer than she was at the beginning of the conversation.

"Great, give your Dad a hug. I have to go, just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Bye Mom! Call me soon!"

Natasha hung up as she slipped her phone into her pocket, only for it to buzz. She let out a groan, knowing it would be Clint wanting more information about her injury. She picked it up and looked at the caller ID, her forehead creased in confusion at the person who was calling her; it wasn't Clint.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading, I'd love a review!**


	13. Chapter Twelve

**Author's Note:**

 **Disclaimer, I do not own Marvel.**

 **I want to apologise that it has taken me a little while to get this chapter up; it was because of two reason, I was writing another story, my beta was on holiday and I was fussy with what I wanted in the chapter. Especially sorry because I left it on a cliffhanger last time!**

 **Thank you to** **BookLuv; Phoenix1966; Ninja0404 is a fanfiction geek; discordchick; Sanctuaria for the lovely reviews!**

* * *

Natasha picked up her phone and looked at the caller ID, her forehead creasing in confusion at who was calling her. Firstly, she was shocked that it wasn't Clint, who she had been expecting. And secondly, she was confused as to who it said was calling her.

"Romanoff," She answered with a clipped, wary tone.

"Natal-Natasha, it's Tori…" Came a reply, and after a long moment of silence, she added. "Tori Raven."

"What do you want?" Natasha asked, ignoring the name mix-up from her former acquaintance, at least she hadn't called her Nadine, which was the name she was assuming when they met at the beginning of her S.H.I.E.L.D. career.

"Are you still looking for Andrew Forson?" Tori asked.

"Andrew Forson; A.I.M." Natasha spoke, "What do you know?"

"How much is this information worth?" Tori inquired. Natasha glared at the wall; she wasn't even going to dignify that question with a response. They had an understanding and she wasn't about to renegotiate with somebody who had nearly lost her trust. After a few long, almost awkward, stretches of time, Tori decided to answer the initial question without an answer. "I have a location on him; twice a week he visits the same place. I've heard a few rumours that there's an A.I.M. laboratory nearby, but it's only rumours and there's no exact location on that," Tori informed her.

"Are you sure it was him? How reliable is your source?" Natasha inquired.

"It's sound, I swear."

Natasha pursed her lips together for a moment, there had been tension between herself and Tori after the woman-an information broker-had provided bad and sometimes dangerous intel a few times. She had some indecision about trusting Tori's facts, but A.I.M and HYDRA were both created by Strucker. Even though A.I.M was no longer affiliated with HYDRA, they were still a potential danger and Andrew Forson particularly had been on Natasha's radar for some time. It would be worth the risk. But she wouldn't pass this information on for somebody else-if it was bad intel, she wouldn't put a random agent's life in jeopardy. "Are you on a secure network?"

"Yes, but I can't talk for a length of time over two minutes, anything above that would raise suspicion."

"Noted. Give me a number, I want to call you from a different line to get further details. More than one call in a short time-period from the same number may get some red-flags if somebody hacks either of us," Natasha replied.

"I agree," Tori replied before throwing a number over the phone and hanging up.

Natasha instantly walked out of the room, needing to get one of her other phones and make sure it was set to scramble her location and encrypt their conversation.

* * *

Natasha walked through the halls of the Avenger compound, having collected all of the information from Tori and additional information about the location she had been given from other sources. As she rounded a corner, she slowed considerably as she saw two shadowy figures conversing. She moved towards the wall, wincing when her injured arm brushed against it as she attempted to work out who the figures were. She did not instantly recognise them as anybody who should be on the base, although it only took a second for her to identify one of the figures was Stark. As she pushed herself from the wall, the movement sent a jolt of pain through her arm. She glared down at it for a second before continuing down the hall, "Stark, Banner." She greeted, planning on walking straight past them.

"Natasha, we were looking for you," Stark said, interrupting her plans. "We heard about your arm." He continued, sounding almost concerned.

She looked at him quizzically; it took a lot for Tony Stark to be openly concerned about something or someone.

"He hacked your medical records, they say you shattered your elbow," Bruce informed her. "What happened?"

"That is an invasion of privacy," Natasha replied as she started to walk away.

"Aren't you the one who leaked everybody's business on the web, including yours?" Stark questioned.

Natasha took a breath, she wanted to just head out to the location given to her, but she was part of a team now and they had come here just because she was injured. An injury which hurt and actually restricted her movement. She should at least talk to them for longer than a minute. Turning back towards them, she smiled, "I didn't say I disapprove. Did you really come all this way because I hurt my elbow?" She asked, her eyes scanning over both of their faces to detect if they were about to lie or not.

"Of course we did," Stark answered instantly and his usual smug expression appeared as he added, "It's not often you are injured and vulnerable."

"I can still kick your ass, Stark," Natasha retorted with a mock glare before smiling. "How long are you staying?" she asked so that she could work out how long she would be required to stay before heading out.

"Until you're healed, of course," Stark replied with a massive grin.

"Actually… I was about to head out for…"

"Don't say for a mission," Banner muttered quietly, but Natasha heard him.

She hesitated in her words. She wasn't used to a lot of people looking out for her; Clint had been one of the only people who she had known to drop what they were doing to help her when it wasn't related to a mission. Some SHIELD agents would easily help her with an op when needed, but Clint was the one who was concerned for her. Having a team was weird, but they were there and she couldn't bring herself to tell them she was in fact going on a mission, but she needed to gather information on Andrew Forson. "I was about to head out for home," she finished carefully before continuing. "I just got some information about a person of interest and was going to get Clint to do some surveillance."

"We can help," Banner volunteered himself and Stark.

"I was hoping for a low profile, just check if the intel is solid and to what degree the threat is," Natasha replied with a thankful smile.

"Who are you stalking?" Tony inquired, "I can run background checks to help."

"A.I.M."

Tony's eyes widened ever so slightly, "A.I.M? That group founded by Aldrich Killian?"

"Actually, it was founded by Strucker at the same time HYDRA was founded, but they are no longer affiliated with them. I think it was reinvented by Killian, but it has expanding since then and as it used to have ties with HYDRA," Natasha corrected. "We are just keeping an eye on the operations; this is one of our best leads on one of their facilities."

Stark nodded, "We'd best get to Clint's quickly. Have you packed and said your goodbye's?"

"What?"

"I'll give you a lift, I've borrowed a Quinjet from-" Stark began before being corrected and interrupted by Banner.

"He stole it."

"Either way, we might as well use it," Stark finished, not actually saying who he 'borrowed' the quinjet from.

Natasha was tempted to talk her way out of it, but decided her lie was actually a more reasonable plan. It would only take Clint a day to gather the information and Natasha was a lot more comfortable around Kristina since talking to her over the phone, so she nodded. "I'll need half an hour. If you two could just convince the doctor to let me leave, that would be great. She said something about supervision, but you can sort that out right? Thanks!" she said with an innocent smile before walking off back to her room to pack, leaving Stark and Banner in her wake.

* * *

"Is Clint planning on leaving as soon as we get there? Or in a few days?" Stark asked, as if they were the only options.

Natasha quirked an eyebrow at him, she had been annoyed at the amount of questions they were asking, until she began asking her own questions. But, this last question halted their back and forth conversation, as she could not select either of the options given, "He… hasn't decided."

"Did you just lie… does Clint even know we're coming?" Stark asked.

"He hasn't decided, that is the truth," Natasha answered simply. "However, as you mention it, he is not aware that we are coming."

Banner shifted in his seat, "I thought we were just dropping Natasha off?"

Tony almost laughed, "It would be rude to not pop in when we are in the area."

Natasha rolled her eyes as she shook her head slightly, "If you teach Kristina anything Clint or I disagree with…"

"I know, you'll kill me."

"No, I'll maim you; death would be too easy," Natasha responded with a smirk as they looked at each other. The threat appeared genuine but neither of them took it seriously and Tony shrugged it off. She stood up when the quinjet landed, grabbing her things and walking out with Tony and Banner. When they approached the house, Natasha decided it was a better idea to knock instead of just walking in. There was a quick patter of footsteps toward the door, but Clint was the one who opened it. "Surprise."

Kristina poked her head out through Clint's arm and the door before squeezing past him and launching herself at Natasha, "You're back!"

"I am, don't forget to hug those two in greeting too," Natasha replied, returning the hug for a second. Kristina didn't hesitate to let go of Natasha and launch herself at Tony, who was the closest to her.

"Oof!" Stark gave an exaggerated stagger backward, although the hug was quite forceful. "Hey, Kristina." After a few more seconds, sounding a bit out of breath, "You can let go now."

"Hi! Where's your Iron Man suit?" Kristina inquired, her arms still around his waist as she refused to let go.

"Back at Avengers Tower," he replied, before leaning down to whisper in her ear. "But you see these bracelets? I can call it and it'll be here in less than a minute."

"That is so cool!" Kristina replied, poking the bracelets. "Can you call it now?"

"He likes to brag, if you can't tell," Banner said. "Hey, Clint."

Clint raised his hand in a small wave, "Hey Bruce."

Kristina quickly let go of him and threw her arms around Banner, "Hi!"

"Hello," Banner replied, looking extremely awkward.

Stark looked at him, giving him a nod of greeting. "Legolas."

"Jerk-face," Clint replied with a nod and a smirk.

Stark thought a moment, then shrugged. "Fair enough." He turned to Kristina and Banner.

"Did you make me my own Iron Man suit?!" Kristina asked excited as she turned away from Banner and back to Tony, giving him her undivided attention.

"No, but you can blame your mother for that," Stark said. "She wouldn't let me bring you anything _really_ cool."

"That's okay! I've started making my own, you can help!" Kristina declared, grabbing Tony's hand and pulling him inside past her parents.

"Let's go," Stark said, pulling Banner in with him.

Natasha turned her attention to Clint after they had walked in and settled in the lounge. She noticed that he was eyeing up her casted elbow, "It's nothing."

"Really? Because I've never known 'Nothing' to need a cast… or are you going undercover as somebody with a broken arm?" Clint asked sarcastically, but he didn't even bother to hide his concern like he usually would have.

"Elbow, and it'll be healed in no time," Natasha reassured him lightly. "I need to talk to you about business."

Clint nodded, "I'm all ears."

Natasha blinked. She had never liked that expression, because it is almost impossible for one to use just their eyes during communication, but she didn't bring that up. "I need you to do some surveillance work on a potential threat."

"Natasha," Clint replied with a sigh. "I can't just head out on a mission with you and I don't feel comfortable leaving Kristina with somebody else, she needs stability."

Natasha's eyes bore into his, "I'm not planning on going on the mission; my elbow has left me in an undesirable situation and I am unfit for active duty. I'll stay here, but I need somebody to check this lead out immediately, somebody who is already knowledgeable about A.I.M. and can handle anything."

"A.I.M., you have a lead on them?"

"There is a potential facility nearby, mainly from rumours. But I have heard from a source that Andrew Forson has been seen visiting a certain place on a number of occasions." Natasha answered.

"I'll leave in the morning," Clint decided, to which Natasha nodded, right as they heard Tony curse. "If Kristina repeats that…"

"I'm on it," Natasha replied as she stood up and headed up the stairs, "STARK!"

* * *

 **Thank you for reading! Originally this chapter was longer, but my beta said I should end it there... so I did! I'd love a review, it really makes my day and makes it worth writing!**


	14. Chapter Thirteen

**Author's Note:**

 **Welcome to another chapter!**

 **Thank you very much to all of my followers, fav's and everybody who reads. Thank you to my beta, Sanctuaria.**

 **I am dedicating this chapter to the only reviewer on my last chapter: Discordchick! Thank you very much for your support :D**

* * *

"When is Dad coming back?" Kristina asked, her eyes wide as she looked at Natasha, her proximity very close.

Natasha blinked, "He just left, less than two hours ago."

"I know but… what if he gets hurt?"

"He won't, don't worry," Natasha replied reassuringly, but that didn't seem to dismiss Kristina's fears, "Why are you worried about it?"

"Because… you went away and got injured and last time he was gone, Aunt Bobbi was injured," Kristina rationalised.

Natasha took a breath as she gave Kristina a level look, "It sounds like you are doubting your Dad's superhero abilities."

"He's the best superhero! I'd never doubt his abilities!" Kristina exclaimed, a bit of a smile breaking through.

"I think he can handle this mission," Natasha told her with a smile. "Now, you have to be quiet, okay?"

Kristina nodded sharply before they both snuck into the guest room-where Tony was still sleeping-and dumped the ice cold water over him.

"What the fuck!" Tony exclaimed, one arm darting out in the direction for the window as he jumped up in a defensive position. Kristina immediately began giggling, but chose to take refuge behind Natasha.

Natasha crossed her arms across her chest as a smirk was planted on her lips, "As Steve would say-Language!"

Tony looked at them and quickly knew that he wasn't in any danger, "I don't remember asking for a wake-up call."

"You said you needed to leave in the morning," Kristina pointed out.

"It's almost eleven, we didn't want you to be behind schedule," Natasha added, not even bothering to act innocent over the situation.

Tony stood up fully, "I will get my revenge; this is just the beginning of the war."

Natasha lips turned upwards into a half-smile, half devilish smirk, but as she went to respond, she noticed something heading right for their location at top speed, she instantly grabbed Kristina's arm to launch her away when she realised exactly what was flying towards them, "Really, Stark," she said, unamused.

Tony looked at her questioningly for a moment, until the window smashed behind him and his Iron Man suit began attaching itself to him, "I thought I was under attack." He replied sheepishly.

"From cold water?"

"Is that why I wasn't allowed to throw cold water over Bruce?" Kristina asked, as she looked at Tony in wonder. "Because he'll turn into the Hulk?"

"Yes, I don't think your father would be amused to come back to his home in ruins."

* * *

"Mom?" Kristina started as she walked into the kitchen at lunch time, "What's for lunch?"

Natasha held up the bread, "You do know how to make your own sandwiches, right?" She received a nod in reply, "There's your answer. You can make whatever you want."

"Can we make pancakes? Dad makes them sometimes," Kristina asked.

Natasha raised one eyebrow, she hated having to address situations where she wasn't an expert and anything to do with cooking was definitely not on her list of skills. She wanted Kristina to have the freedom to learn and grow as an individual and didn't want to hold her back in anything; however, it would probably be safer to allow her to advance her cooking skills when Clint was around. "Not today, let's stick with sandwiches."

"Okay," Kristina replied as she collected butter and ham from the fridge to make her own sandwich.

"But after lunch, I was thinking about showing you some fighting skills," Natasha informed her, earning a massive smile. "Make sure you eat enough to sustain you but don't overfill yourself." She advised.

"Are you really going to teach me to fight?" Kristina asked, looking at Natasha with wide hopeful eyes.

"Yes, just the basics though," Natasha confirmed. She had warned Clint that if he left them alone, she'd teach her to fight-well, technically she specified teaching Kristina to shoot, but made a calculated decision that she was probably too young.

Kristina squeaked in joy as she bounced on the spot before sitting down and making her sandwich.

* * *

Natasha's eyes flew open, fully alert a whole second before her phone buzzed. She reached out picking up the phone as she stood and answered it, "Romanoff."

"Hey Tasha, how's it going?" Clint asked.

Natasha frowned, she could almost hear the grin on Clint's face. He was having too much fun enjoying her dismay at being stuck at home, "If you don't return soon, I am dropping Kristina off with Steve and leaving her there."

Clint laughed, "It's been three days, Tasha. She's not that bad."

"When will you be back?" Natasha asked, knowing that any argument she comes up with will instantly be dismissed by Clint.

"Everything should be sorted tonight; it'll be radio silence in an hour onwards though," Clint replied, not giving any real details. "How is Kristina doing?"

"She's terrified something bad is going to happen, can you blame her?" Natasha asked rhetorically, "You don't exactly have the best track record on missions lately- Maybe you really are getting too old for it."

"Hey!" Clint exclaimed with a mock offended tone. "They haven't been bad lately."

"To Kristina they have," Natasha pointed out before supplying him with a detailed recollection. "This is your fourth mission since becoming a full-time Dad for Kristina. First mission you got seriously injured and weren't able to pick her up after her first day of school-"

"But she saw Steve again, met Iron Man, Thor and Hulk-"

"Banner, not the Hulk. Continuing on from this mission, she attended the celebratory party with us and saw both of us get attacked."

"But you got her out, she was fine; we all were."

Natasha took a breath, if he was here she would have hit him for interrupting her, "Then the second mission, which lasted a really long time, you returned with a gunshot wound- and were more injured than I was."

"We were against Ultron and his army of robots!" Clint defended but did not elaborate. Natasha knew he was thinking about Quicksilver, the reason he was in fact alive.

"Third mission-"

"I didn't go on a third mission."

"That time you left to see Bobbi, which I called a mission to Kristina," Natasha corrected.

"But I was not injured in that case, why would that add to her worries?" Clint questioned.

"No, _you_ weren't; but her favourite Auntie Bobbi was," Natasha pointed out with a sigh. "Everytime you go on a mission, it's not good. She is expecting the worst."

Clint sighed, "Apart from that, how is she?"

"She is fine. I'm teaching her how to fight without weapons," Natasha informed him.

"Now I remember why I didn't want to leave you alone to her," Clint commented with a small chuckle. "Can't you teach her to bake cookies, like any normal- Wait, scratch that. Your cooking is awful, I'll teach her."

"Baking and cooking are completely different," Natasha instantly defended. She hated when he pointed out her weaknesses.

"And you are equally terrible at both of them," Clint casually reminded her.

"You will be surprised to know that we have attempted to make pizza and macaroni cheese from scratch," Natasha informed him with confidence.

"Is the kitchen intact?"

Natasha pursed her lips at the question, forcing herself to answer, "It is."

"Was the food edible?"

Natasha knew that if he was there, she would have hit him or thrown him out of the window, "It was not." She admitted truthfully.

Clint full-out laughed down the phone at her, taking his time before speaking, "Is she awake?"

Natasha smiled slightly at the question, "No, she's still asleep, but I don't think she minds waking up a little earlier to talk to you." She replied as she made her way out of their bedroom and into Kristina's. "Kristina, Clint's on the phone."

Kristina's eyes fluttered open, she frowned at being woken up but after a few long moments her eyes widened as she registered exactly what Natasha has said, "What?"

"Your father, he's on the phone," Natasha repeated.

Kristina grinned and held out her hand for the phone, "Hello? Hi! When are you coming back? I miss you!" She asked instantly. "Oh- but you're okay? No cuts or bruises?"

Natasha backed up out of the room, leaving Kristina to question Clint as she got dressed for the day. She dressed in simple tight-fitting black jogging bottoms, a black cami top and dark and light striped grey hoodie.

* * *

"Keep your arms up so you can protect your face," Natasha advised as she physically moved Kristina's hands higher. "Keep them in a fist. Great, now, without moving your arms, kick the pads with alternative legs." Natasha moved her hands which had the boxing pads on so that Kristina's kicks hit them.

"Can I… be an Avenger too?" Kristina asked, as she continued kicking with all of her might.

"Keep your arms up," Natasha corrected. "And maybe, let's see if you can kick with more force- You need to work on your balance."

Kristina took a deep breath and kicked harder, but nearly lost her balance, "I'm rubbish."

"You'll learn."

"Can't I just shoot them with a bow and arrow like Dad?" Kristina asked, ready to give up.

"No." Natasha responded before looking at her pouting daughter. "You Dad was trained in hand-to-hand combat. It's not like he can _only_ shoot arrows."

"But him shooting a bow made him an Avenger… right?" Kristina asked.

Natasha shook her head, "No, it came in handy, but it wasn't the reason he united with the Avengers and knowing how to shoot an arrow wouldn't be enough anyway." Kristina didn't look very convinced, but lifted her arms up anyway, ready to continue with the training. "Besides, if you wanted to learn archery, you should ask your father; he is the expert." She added.

Kristina instantly stood up straighter, "You're right! I will. Let's do this." She stated, her face becoming serious once again.

* * *

Natasha's eyes sprung open as she took in her surroundings, in one swift movement her arm darted out, grabbed her phone and returned to under the covers. With a glance at the caller-ID she answered it, "Romanoff."

"Hey Tasha," Clint whispered in reply. "How are you?"

"Fine. What's wrong?"

"What makes you think anything is wrong?" Clint questioned, keeping his voice hushed.

"It's the middle of the night and I know you," Natasha replied. "Now, what's wrong?"

"I've found the A.I.M. lab, it looks like they are trying to recreate the Hulk," Clint informed her. "But, it is definitely active."

"The Hulk? They're crazy," Natasha responded. "Are you about to head home?"

"No." Clint stated. "I can't leave, there're trucks, it looks like they are going to relocate; we can't afford to lose them. I'm going to snoop around, see if I can find where any other bases are, where they are relocating to, how far they are on their research for the Hulk and basically gather as much intel as I can. I'm continuing on radio silence for a day or two."

Natasha furrowed her eyebrows together, as much as she hated that he was going to take longer on the mission, she knew it was necessary. However, that didn't explain why he deemed it important to tell her he was going on radio silence, she didn't call him, "Good idea."

"Kristina has been calling a lot, I turned it on to contact somebody and had six missed calls from. can you take her phone off her or tell her not to until I let you know. I can't risk it going off at all."

Natasha nodded, "I'll do it now."

"Natasha- I love you," Clint stated.

"Yeah… me too."

"What?" Clint asked, the shock obvious in his voice.

Natasha bit her lip to stop herself from responding for a moment, "Come back soon. Bye." She hung up and slid out of bed to retrieve Kristina's phone.

* * *

Natasha twirled six small knifes in her hands, three in each, her face filled with determination as she calculatingly circled the room. Her eyes flew over ever inch of the room, a small smirk set across her lips as she spun throwing four of the knife simultaneously into the targets. She stopped and casually threw the remaining two up, one hitting the target on the ceiling, the other falling onto the final target, "That was way too easy." She commented to herself with a small sigh; she missed her sparring partner. She needed a challenge. She loved Kristina, she really did and being her mother was one of the best things that had ever happened to her; it was truly a miracle. However, without Clint being here, Natasha did not feel entirely comfortable. She had expected Clint to have been gone a day, two max but it had been nearly eight days, with five days of no contact with him. Additionally, she was unable to go on any missions or hunt for him as she had to look for Kristina, the only good thing was that she had finally gotten her cast off earlier and found her elbow to not be that bad.

When her phone went off, Natasha answered it without a second thought, hoping she didn't have to decline another mission. "Romanoff."

"Natasha-I have some bad news," Fury's voice appeared on the other end. His tone telling Natasha everything she needed to know about what was coming.

"What happened?" Natasha asked, her voice controlled, her emotions shut down and her stare cold and distant.

"We are not exactly sure. We received a distress call from Barton, seeking backup upon a discovery, however, when we got there half of the facility had been involved in an explosion."

"And Clint?"

"Forensics matched his DNA to one of the bodies; there are some inconsistencies though- but at the moment, due to the discoveries made, I am calling to tell you that as of two hours ago Clint Barton has been declared K.I.A." Fury said. He was obviously waiting for a reply, but Natasha had no intention on giving one. So he added, "I'm sorry Natasha, you know how to reach me, I'll call you if we find out anything else. Goodbye."

Natasha ended the call before trudging up the stairs out of the basement and into the lounge, processing what Fury had told her. She placed her phone down and shook her head, "Not possible." She muttered to herself. She felt frozen in place, firstly because of what she's just been told and secondly for Kristina. She knew that if she didn't need to pick Kristina up from school in just over one hour, she would already be on her way to S.H.I.E.L.D. to get to the bottom of every little detail. However, the overwhelming grief filled her when she realised that she may actually have to say something to Kristina; who had asked every single day when Clint was coming home and when she could next talk to him. "I can't do this." Natasha muttered, her voice having a hint of anger, although most wouldn't even notice the change. Her fingers moved across her screen before she could even register what she was doing; she had to find answers and she couldn't face her daughter until she did.

"Hello?"

"Steve- I need you to pick Kristina up from school and look after her for a while," Natasha stated.

"What's going on?"

"Something happened to Clint, I have to find answers. Kristina can stay with you- But I need to get to the bottom of this," Natasha admitted, her instincts kicking in as she walked straight upstairs and into Kristina's room. She grabbed a suitcase and started packing the essentials and then other items she thought Kristina may want.

"Natasha, what happened?"

"He's been declared dead," Natasha answered, although as she said the words she froze again. She closed her eyes, she couldn't be affected. "Just pick up Kristina, I'll meet you at- I'll meet you at Stark's tonight. She gets out of school in 73 minutes."

"I'll pick her up," Steve confirmed before Natasha hung up on him. She turned to throw her phone out of the window but stopped herself, only moving an inch. However, she wasn't able to stop the three tears which slipped out of her right eye as she continued to pack up Kristina's things. And then her own. With a hint of hesitation, she also packed a bag for Clint; he had taken most of his standard things anyway, like usual. But in his bag she added the personal touches, the photos he had framed from the recent photos he had taken of them.

Placing all three bags/suitcases into the car, she drove. She didn't care that it was already a five hour drive to Stark's, not including stops. She needed to clear her mind and think.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading.**

 **Expect the next chapter in one week.**


	15. Chapter Fourteen

**Author's note:**

 **Firstly, my apologies that this chapter is late-My Mum had an operation and is in hospital and I've been a bit busy.**

 **Secondly, Wow, I am amazed with the incredible response from my last chapter! Okay, a lot of you told me off, haha! But still, thank you very much! Sanctuaria; Fury-Natalia; BookLuv; Ninja0404 is a fanfiction geek; Keilani; discordchick; Melody Jenna Plumber.**

* * *

Natasha parked at Starks, she didn't hesitate to call Fury, the journey had given her time to process what he had told her as well as all of the repercussions of the news. However, even though she had planned several actions to take, including multiple plans regarding Kristina, she did not believe that Clint was deceased. The only way she would even tell her daughter about that possibility, was after she had hard facts and currently, she had not been presented with any.

Fury answered immediately, "I expected you to get here sooner."

"I'm not there," Natasha informed him. "What's really going on, I know he's not dead, Fury."

"Natasha, we found his body," He replied calmly.

"Bullshit," Natasha said, not believing him.

Fury took a louder breath than usual, "We're running a DNA test now to confirm it…"

"DNA?" Natasha interrupted. "It would be quicker to run his dentals or fingerprints that you have on file."

"That is not possible," Fury replied.

"I'm on my way… in about an hour," Natasha informed him before hanging up and getting out of her car. Her walk was unnaturally precise as she made her way to the elevator and pressed the button to the main floor, where she expected to find somebody. She wasn't disappointed, as she barely exited the elevator when Kristina had thrown her arms around Natasha's chest.

Natasha wrapped both arms around Kristina gently, "Are you having fun with Steve?" she asked as she looked up and saw Steve stand up from the couch.

"You left me!" Kristina exclaimed, sounding angry and upset, although, she remained attached to Natasha.

"No I didn't," Natasha lied. "I thought it would be nice for you to spend some time with Steve, you keep saying you wanted to see him more."

Kristina looked up at her, full of unshed tears, "Really?"

"Yes… you have been good, right?" Natasha asked. She watched as guilt instantly crossed Kristina's face before running over to Steve and literally jumping on him.

Steve caught and hugged her, accepting her mumbled apology. Natasha made eye contact with him, and knew he understood instantly that they were not going to tell Kristina the truth. She walked over to them, "Kristina, come here a second."

Kristina released Steve and walked towards Natasha, Natasha took her hand and sat her down on the couch before kneeling in front of her, "I guess the surprise wasn't as good as I thought it would be."

"Sorry," Kristina apologised.

"No need to apologise," Natasha instantly replied. "I have to go and see a friend for a day or two, are you okay to stay here with Steve or Tony and Pepper?"

Kristina looked like she was seriously considering the question before nodding, "I love spending time with Steve and Tony! When will you be back?"

"I'm not sure, but I am only a phone call away and I'll answer it anytime," Natasha assured her before adding. "Apart from when I'm driving, in that case, I'll call you back."

Kristina nodded, agreeing to them terms. "Can I call Dad too?"

"No, he's still on a mission," Natasha answered.

"And you're not going on a mission?"

"No, I just want you to get to know your uncle Steve and uncle Tony more. I'm visiting a friend," Natasha lied. "Now, it is past your bedtime."

"Wait, what about school?" Kristina replied, turning to look at her.

"You're not going school tomorrow," Natasha informed her.

"Why?"

"You only have a week left for school until summer, I thought we'd start summer a bit earlier," Natasha lied before standing up. "Say goodnight to Steve."

"Good night Uncle Steve!" Kristina exclaimed, giving him another hug, before accepting Natasha's hand and letting her lead her out.

It took longer for Kristina to go to sleep than Natasha had anticipated, it was like she knew something was wrong.

* * *

Natasha made her way back to the communal area where she located Steve waiting patiently, he looked up when she entered. "I think you should tell her the truth," Steve informed her, obviously saying what he thought as quickly as possible.

Natasha suspected, that if he hadn't have said it straight away, he wouldn't have said it at all. She nodded in appreciation at his honesty and approached him, "Until I know what happened to him, I am not going to tell Kristina speculations."

Steve didn't reply for a long time, and Natasha didn't push him or say anything further on the matter, she was waiting for him to say she was wrong, like many had in the past. She knew her methods were not what a 'normal' person would do, but she didn't want to upset Kristina if there was nothing to be upset about. "How can I help?" he finally asked, sitting down.

Natasha sat down on the seat opposite him, "Are you alright to look after her for a few days?"

Steve nodded, "Of course." Although, he looked like he was holding something back.

"Say it,"

Steve sighed before relenting, "I'm helping the recruits, I did tell them I would be gone for a few days, but I don't want to leave them too long. You know I'd do anything for you and Clint, I would just prefer if either you, me, or another Avenger needs to be there. Preferably you or me."

Natasha nodded, "Of course." She sighed, knowing that with everything that has happened with Clint taking Kristina back, she had neglected her duties in the Avengers and helping Steve to train the new recruits. "I'm sorry, I won't keep you here long. I just need to know if he's alive or… not. Then I will work out what to do."

Steve nodded, "How are you coping?"

"I'm fine," Natasha replied instantly, having no intention of having this type of conversation.

"You know, if you never needed to talk to somebody, I'm here for you," Steve said with a small yet genuine smile.

Natasha almost retorted back, telling him that she would only talk to Clint about these sort of things, but stopped herself. She almost shook her head but refrained that too, Steve was just trying to be nice, but she didn't even want to think about what was going on and what she would do if Clint actually was dead. She preferred getting the facts and then being completely alone in the middle of nowhere to deal with it; the last thing she would want was to let somebody see her when she's vulnerable. However, she knew she had to say something to Steve, something that showed him that she trusted him, but also didn't make her express anymore than she wanted. "I know, I just don't want to think about it right now." She informed him, telling the truth without having to dive into any emotions.

Steve nodded, "Okay. I'm just a call away."

Natasha nodded, "Thank you Steve. I need to get going." He nodded and she walked off, straight into Tony's laboratory. "What have you found out?"

"They haven't put much online, not that I've found anyway. Death toll is 17 people… no injured that they've found. Place was cleared out before they got there," Stark replied. "The initial report stated that the explosion wasn't the cause for all of the deaths."

Natasha walked around to the screen he was looking at, "That's not much information, but it's a start. Anything about Clint?"

"From the pictures, I've identified 14 of his arrows, his bow in two pieces. Haven't seen any indication of his Avengers suit," he replied, illustrations appearing on the screen to the arrows and bow when spoken about.

"He didn't take his suit, he was just wearing black. What about the deceased, do you have images of them?" She informed him.

Stark nodded, "Yes, but not individually. Couldn't identify Barton, but most of the bodies were burnt due to the explosion, which means I can't rule out that he wasn't there. I can only locate ten bodies in the pictures though."

"He's not dead until I have proof," Natasha stated as she pursed her lips in thought. "Fury said they found his body…but they are running a DNA test right now."

"From what I can tell, one of the body's found matched his body type, age, and a few injuries he had sustained throughout S.H.I.E.L.D." Stark theorised. "Personally, it all seem like speculation to me. There's nothing on their system which links to Barton being killed there; unless they're keeping something out."

"I'm going now, I will find out everything soon," Natasha stated, determination in her voice.

Stark handed her three flash drives, "I'll be able to access their system if one of them are plugged in, I'll copy everything instantly." She held up the three, "Two can be used as a decoy for anything, better to be safe." He replied with a shrug before picking up a grape and eating one, before offering one to Natasha. She shook her head, no being hungry. "Want to borrow my quinjet?"

"You have a quinjet?"

"Technically, it's SHIELD quinjet-you could return it to them," Tony suggested, eating another grape.

Natasha nodded and did just that.

* * *

She strode into the S.H.I.E.L.D. base which Tony had identified as the one the bodies were taken to for examination, with the only aim of working out if Barton had been one of the fallen. With a sharp glare at any agent that looked at her and didn't immediately move out of her way, she walked through the halls. Even though she didn't know where she was going, nobody questioned her, "Fury or bodies." She asked a random agent, who quickly pointed down the hall.

"First right, seventh right, second left up the stairs, second door," The agent spluttered in reply.

Natasha barely acknowledged the response as she set off, following the instructions and found herself, barging in on Fury talking to Agent Hill. They both looked at her.

"I'm listening," Natasha stated, looking at them, not even bothered that she may have interrupted something important.

"They are still doing the autopsies-"

"You told me that you were declaring Clint _dead_! Have you ran the DNA test? Is it in?" Natasha interrupted Fury and demanded he answer.

"We kept everything off our records, but we found him in his suit and-"

"In his suit?"

"-it's best if I show you." Fury finished, ignoring her little interruption.

Natasha narrowed her eyes slightly, more from though, she knew that Clint hadn't taken his Hawkeye suit, like Stark had assumed. But if Fury found somebody wearing that suit, then something fishy was going on, but she was sure it didn't involve the death of her partner. "Show me."

Fury indicated for her to follow him, on the route out, she acknowledged Hill's presence. She followed him into a computer laboratory, she thought to the USB chips which were on her, but knew that he was watching her. When he stopped and looked at her, she crossed her arms and tapped her foot impatiently, he was hiding something and she wasn't going to let him get away with it. He leant over to the keyboard and typed a few thing on it to activate it.

She walked over and looked at the screen, her eyes narrowed as her eyes glazed over the image, she noted the deliberately burnt fingers-to get rid of his fingerprints- to the broken teeth-to stop them being able to get dental records- and over his burnt face. She noted that this person was wearing the Hawkeye outfit and it appeared legit, "he wasn't wearing his uniform and it doesn't fit him in that way." She started. She had to take a breath to keep herself calm, as at first and even second look, it did appear to be Barton. "His… his hair is too long, Clint just had it cut." Her reasoning was pitiful, she wouldn't even believe herself. She zoned into a few areas on the body, but couldn't get a clear view.

Fury looked at the image for a moment, "And that makes it not Barton?" he asked.

"I need to see the body, these pictures are grainy."

Fury nodded and began to lead her, as he checked his phone, she quickly inserted one of the USBs into the computer before following him, "the labs just confirmed that a pool of Barton's blood was found on scene."

Natasha took his tablet and looked at the results, "He could have survived that." She decided handing it back. They soon walked into a forensics lab and slowed, she took in all of the bodies before walking to the one that Fury had indicated. She was careful to not touch the body, to avoid contaminating it, but studies the features carefully. A sigh of relief left her as she relaxed, "This is not Barton."

"She's right, this is not Agent Clint Barton; it's Agent Borin," One of the scientists said as they approached them.

"You need to stop declaring people dead; first Coulson, then yourself and now Clint? You'll get a bad reputation," Natasha spoke before taking one more look around the room and walking off. She entered another USB into one of the computers on her way out, not even caring if Fury saw her. She had barely exited the lab when her phone began buzzing in her pocket. She presumed it would be Kristina and her expression changed to neutral when she noticed it was Wanda and answered it, "Romanoff."

"He's not really dead is he? Please tell me he's not dead!" Wanda instantly exclaimed down the phone. Natasha almost glared at Steve, who must have uttered those words whilst looking after Kristina, she hoped Kristina hadn't overheard anything. "Why aren't you telling me he's not dead? He's dead, isn't he?" she questioned, sounding genuinely devastated, even though they hadn't really spent anytime together since Pietro's funeral.

"He's not dead," Natasha informed her. "The body found is not Clint." She added.

"Oh thank you, thank you," Wanda said, generally relieved with the new information.

"I have to go," Natasha said, hanging up, managing to hear the beginning of Wanda saying 'Bye'.

* * *

Getting back to the quinjet, she sat down at the front but didn't take off, her mind was filled with so many emotions she was finding it difficult to work out exactly what to do. On the one hand, Clint was alive, on the other, they had found a pool of his blood and he was missing. There is still a chance that he was dead, or gravely injured, or being tortured. Although, there was an equal chance that he was only slightly injured and unaware of being presumed dead. Natasha knew he was probably just continuing on with the mission, however, somebody had taken the time to dress somebody up as him, burn their fingers, break their teeth and burn their face to obstruct the data. That didn't exactly fill her with confidence.

However, regardless with everything that could have happened with Clint, she wanted nothing more to go back to Stark and give Kristina a hug. She was so relieved that she didn't have to tell Kristina that her father had died, and it made realised that she would do anything to keep that smile on her daughter's face.

She thought about what Clint would want her to do, in the past, nothing would have stopped her from finding him. But time has moved on and he had made it clear that Kristina should be their first priority. And even though if it was not intended, right now, it felt like she had to choose between being there for Kristina or being there for Clint. As she started the engines, still unsure of the destination, she realised that she didn't have to do this alone. A tracking mission for the recruits would aid in their training and assist her in finding Clint. They had all shown they are capable in a fight, either with powers, technology or fighting skills, so she wouldn't have to worry about if they got caught up in something.

Placing the headphones on her ears, she did the final checks before setting her course back to Stark-returning the stolen quinjet to him-and calling Steve to suggest her plan.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading!**


	16. Chapter Fifteen

**Author's note:**

 **Here is another chapter! From this chapter onwards, the Point of Views will change! They will still mostly be in Natasha's POV, but to show more of Kristina and other events, I will be expanding! I would love your opinion on who's POV you would like! I will state the changes of POV's (But I will limit them as much as possible!)**

 **Thank you very much to my readers and those who reviewed last chapter: BookLuv, discordchick and Sactuaria.**

* * *

Natasha found herself drifting back into Stark's tower, slowly making her way out of the quinjet, which technically she stole this time. She didn't feel like herself, despite the fact that she was being allowed to make her own decisions about the course of her life. She wasn't answering to anyone else or doing what others expected of her, she was simply trying to do the right thing, like she always had. The problem was that her perspective of what was right had been rapidly changed over the last year. So much had happened, from Ultron trying to destroy the world to Clint's decision regarding Kristina.

She stepped to head towards the communal area-it seemed fitting to check on Kristina-but she stopped and headed for Stark's Lab instead, as she hadn't even been gone a day. Stark was already there when she walked in, and from his position looking at the screens it was clear he was examining all of the information from the base. "What do you have?" she asked, getting straight to the point.

"The evidence they collected definitely indicated that it was Barton who was discovered-somebody wanted us to think it was him," Tony informed her as he turned to face her.

"It was premeditated," Natasha concluded with a frown. "Somebody was after him."

"Do you think it was A.I.M.?" Stark asked, "I'm already tracking some of their movements."

"I am not convinced it was A.I.M.," Natasha admitted as she walked to his computers and started typing. "Can you see if there's anything in the pictures that would indicate a third party? I'm going to take a look at the scene with some of the Avengers."

"You're babysitting them?"

"I need some practice for when Kristina grows up," Natasha replied nonchalantly.

"They are all in the lounge," Tony informed them. "I'll get the computer to run for possible third parties and tracks away from the facility." He said, before walking with her out of the room.

"Still haven't named your computer?"

"JARVIS just feels right, but it's like naming a pet after a past pet, doesn't feel right," Tony confessed. "However, I am tempted to call Vision, Jarvis. I can't believe he chose a different name."

"That's what happens when your children grow up," Natasha told him, before realising that she actually had a child. "You don't think Kristina will change her name, do you?"

"She told me she wanted to add a middle name when she's older."

"She has a middle name,"

"Does she know that?"

Natasha looked at him in thought as they walked into the room, she was unaware whether or not Clint had told Kristina that piece of information. She didn't respond as Kristina's excited voice exclaimed 'Mom' and ran over to her. "Hey Kristina," she greeted with a hug, "having fun?"

"Yes, Steve let me hold his shield whilst he threw waterballoons at me! I didn't get wet at all!"

"Yes, she successfully dodged every single balloon, takes after her mother," Steve added with a smile. He had obviously directed his shots at the shield and made sure Kristina did not get hit by them. Kristina smiled proudly.

Natasha patted her shoulder, "Well done."

"What are they all doing here?" Kristina asked happily, like it was all for her.

"I am going to take them on a small training exercise," Natasha informed her, she saw Kristina's face lighten up in excitement. "You can't come."

"Oh, no fair. I always miss out on the fun," Kristina retorted instantly as she sat down.

"Yes, you do," Natasha replied without a second thought. "You can choose who you want to look after you while I'm gone."

"Anybody?"

"Yes, whomever you want," Natasha confirmed.

"Tony!" Kristina exclaimed after a moment of consideration.

Natasha cast a look at Tony, "Is Pepper here?"

Tony picked up his phone, "I'm already calling her." He stated as he walked from the room, "Hey Pepper, I need a favour…"

"Kristina, go with Tony for now," Natasha said, wanting to get her out of the room so she could discuss the mission without her overhearing or discovering what was really going on.

"Okay!" Kristina said happily as she jumped up and ran after Tony. "Tony! Wait up!"

Natasha waited until Kristina was completely out of view, "As you are all aware, Clint Barton is currently unaccounted for. A body was staged to appear to be Clint's and it is obvious that he was injured. Therefore, we are going to the location he was last seen to attempt to track his movements, find him or discover who he left with; either willingly or otherwise." She stated, getting straight to the point, "This mission is voluntary and is not a test. We will be leaving in…" She checked the time, "53 minutes. Suit up and meet back here before then if you wish to join in with the mission."

Even though she hadn't asked them to verbally acknowledge her words or agree right then, they all did. Which led to Vision, Scarlet Witch, Falcon, War Machine, Captain America and the Black Widow in complete outfits landing at the scene of the explosion merely three hours later.

Natasha was the first to step out of the quinjet-the same quinjet that still officially belonged to S.H.I. . "Spread out, teams of two; Vision, you're with me." She declared before turning and walking the short distance to the ex-A.I.M. base. She heard the remaining four discuss for a moment, who they were partnering up with; Scarlet Witch and War Machine ended up together, and Falcon partnered with Steve.

Vision floated to her side when she came to a stop, "How may I be of assistance?"

"Scan for anything related to Hawkeye; we need to track where he has been," Natasha replied.

Vision nodded and began analysing the scene whilst staying within talking distance of her. "Hawkeye's body would have been found down the hall, although, I have not been able to identify any of his arrows, which were pictured to be in this area."

Natasha walked a few paces down the side of the half-exploded building and frowned. "It looks like S.H.I. . has cleaned up a bit." She sighed and crouched down, "Any useful information about his movements in the base have been compromised, it appears that S.H.I. . did a good job to protect his movements."

Vision moved around and picked up a rock, "I do not believe that it was S.H.I.E.L.D. that compromised the base. These rocks were crushed and distorted after they had left- this happened after the fire."

"Are you saying that somebody besides S.H.I.E.L.D. deliberately removed any indication of Clint being here?"

"Yes," Vision confirmed simply.

"Natasha," Steve called from a distance away from her, she instantly stood up and jogged around the base to find him.

"What is it?"

Falcon was the one to speak, "These wheels do look like a FPI Cougar- it's a military vehicle."

"Military?" Scarlet Witch questioned as she and War machine joined the group. "Why were they here?"

"FPI Cougar are American?" Natasha questioned, ignoring Wanda's question for the moment.

"Yes, they have been used since 2002," Vision provided.

"Falcon, War Machine, track the vehicle ahead of us; Steve and I will follow it on foot. Wanda, Vision, stay here, secure the location and see if you can find anything else. Everybody, stay on your radio," Natasha instructed. She looked at Steve to see that he was looking a little out of place, she knew he was used to giving the orders. "Let's go," she spoke as everybody headed into the directions she told them to. "You don't mind taking orders, do you Rogers?"

"No, ma'am," Steve replied as they set off following the tracks.

Natasha wasn't sure how she felt about being called ma'am, but smiled in reply regardless, "Good."

* * *

 **Tony's POV:**

"Tony! Tony! Tony!" Kristina exclaimed, trying to get his attention after everybody else had left.

Tony looked down at her, unfortunately, Pepper hadn't shown up yet, she was still enroute which meant that he was the only person there to look after her and make sure she didn't somehow injure herself, "I'm right here, kiddo."

"I know, can we play a game? Can you put on your Iron Man suit?" Kristina asked eagerly.

Tony thought for a moment, "Don't you want to just play on the internet?" he asked, deeming that to be the least dangerous activity he could provide.

Kristina scrunched up her nose, "No, thank you!"

"You're not into technology?" he questioned, wondering how it was possible for her to not to want to play on the computer at all. As far as he was aware, children wanted to play on it 24/7.

"I do, but it's _summer!_ " Kristina pointed out, as if that changed the whole dynamic of the situation. "If you don't want to play, we can do to the park instead? Or I can just go, I can take care of myself."

"I'll play, I'll play," Tony relented. "Monopoly?"

Kristina shook her head, "Can we play a superhero game? Can I fire one of your awesome guns?" She asked, her eyes wide and bright at the prospect.

"I don't think your mother would like that," Tony pointed out.

Kristina grinned at him, "I won't tell if you don't."

Tony's face erupted into a massive smile, the mysterious glint in his eye, "You really are your parents daughter." He checked on his phone to make sure that Pepper wasn't there yet before nodding, "I did make something for you, but you cannot tell your parents if I show you, okay?"

"Deal!"

They both made their way to his lab, Kristina with a distinctive skip in her walk, "Don't touch anything unless I tell you too." He warned before picking up a box. "Remember when you asked me to make you a Iron Man suit?" Kristina nodded eagerly, "Well, I played around with a few ideas; come here, let's get you in it."

Kristina ran the rest of the distance over to him, even though it was only a few metres. The outfit consisted of a backpack which contained the power pack and was strapped around her waist with a distinctive belt, a sleeve which was connected to wires and protective plates, finally, there was a glove which was nearly identical to the Iron Man suit gloves. Kristina's hand kept dropping from the weight of it.

Tony switched it on and held her arm, "Okay, now, aim at that wall." He instructed and waited for her to do as he said. "Now, push that button on your belt with your free hand." He moved himself to he was holding her securely and controlling where her hand was aiming.

Kristina grinned, looked at the button, then the wall, then the button again before pressing it. A small shriek of shock left her mouth as the energy beam flew from her hand and smashed into the wall, resulting in a 3 foot round hold. "THAT WAS AMAZING!"

"Want to try it again?" Tony asked her.

"I don't think so," Pepper announced as she walked into the lab.

Tony looked up at her, actually looking guilty for a split second before leaning closer to Kristina, "Press the button again." She seemed to hesitate before following his orders, she pressed the button with less confidence causing another explosion and making the hole in the same wall bigger.

"TONY!"

Tony slid his hand into the backpack and turned it off, he looked Pepper, "I was in complete control."

"I've heard that before, take it off her. Now."

"Is she going to tell my Mom?" Kristina whispered to him, making him sigh as she began taking the equipment off her.

"Not if I can help it… but she does look pretty mad," Tony answered before taking the backpack off and putting it all together and away.

"Kristina, can you give Tony and I a minute to talk?" Pepper asked her kindly, to which Kristina nodded and instantly ran out of the room. "What were you thinking? She is ten years old and you arm her with a weapon?"

"She's not just any ten-year-old, she's Clint's and Natasha's," Tony responded with a roll of his eyes. It wasn't that big of a deal letting her play with some of his equipment, she was supervised the entire time. It wasn't like he left her alone with it.

"She is still a child," Pepper pointed out. "And you are teaching her bad habits. Do you want her to destroy the whole building?"

"Pepper, she's well-behaved, don't worry. I do not expect her to break anything," Tony replied, taking the situation lightly.

Pepper groaned in frustration and turned from him, making her way out of the lab, "I should call Natasha back from her mission."

"She'll probably be more pissed at you! She is trying to find her lover… who might be _dead_!" Tony countered, doing his best to convince Pepper out of telling Natasha anything, especially now. He knew by Kristina's expression earlier that she was terrified of her finding out, he understood that she didn't want her mother to be disappointed in her and he wanted to protect her in any way he could. "Besides, Kristina-"

"What did you say?" Pepper asked surprised as she swung around to face him. "Clint might be…"

Tony blinked before finishing her sentence as she appeared to be too shocked by the information to finish it, "He's missing, lost a lot of blood. Why else do you think Natasha would willingly leave Kristina with _me?_ " He asked casually, trying to make light of the conversation as Pepper looked white as a sheet. He strutted over to her, just in case, "She's out finding answers now."

"Poor Kristina, this must be hard for her."

"She doesn't know and she can't know," Tony informed her. "Let's go make some hot chocolate."

Pepper agreed and they walked out to the main lounge, they both looked around for Kristina.

"JARVIS Jr, Where is Kristina?" Tony asked, his new-nearly identical to his old-system.

"Miss Kristina has left the building, Sir,"

Tony and Pepper sent each other a panicked glance, all Tony could think was that Natasha would castrate him and then murder him if anything happened to her.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! I would be delighted if you take the time to review :)**


	17. Chapter Sixteen

**Author's Note:**

 **I got this chapter up in only a few days! I hope you all appreciate that! :D**

 **Thank you for the lovely reviews I've received from discordchick; ; BookLuv; Sanctuaria! They mean a lot to me.**

* * *

Natasha took several pictures as she and Steve walked down the dirt road. She didn't really find anything to document apart from the tracks, but hoped that something would come up the further they walked. She looked up as Falcon flew towards them and landed in front of them, taking a few steps due to his momentum. "Tracks end about a mile away, looks like they got on a helicopter or something."

Natasha frowned deeply, "This is too clean for it to have been spontaneous."

"Somebody targeted him, lured him here and grabbed him," Steve theorised.

Natasha frowned, a small glare gracing her features, "He wasn't the target, I was. And I know where to get the answers."

"Where?"

"To the bitch that gave me the information in the first place," Natasha muttered darkly.

"Language-Steve is around," Falcon joked, looking at Steve.

Steve sighed in response, looking at him with a half-annoyed, half-playful expression, "Don't you start." He warned lightly.

"You started it, Rogers," Natasha pointed out with a smirk. "Let's get back to the quinjet," she added before she turned on the spot and started to jog back down the path. She heard Falcon mention getting War Machine and Steve's footsteps match hers. She looked at Steve, who looked extremely relaxed and sped up her speed-he once again matched her.

"Are you making this a competition?" Steve asked her.

Natasha's eyes narrowed slightly as her lips curled up into a playful smirk, she slowed down slightly and watched as Steve started to too, before launching straight into a sprint, giving her a slight head start. However, he easily beat her, and she knew that he hadn't even touched his full speed-but neither of them pointed that out. "Wanda! Vision! Back to the quinjet!" she called as she came to a stop, controlling her breathing which was faster than usual.

"What did you find?" Wanda questioned as she jogged over to them.

"That it's time to teach you how to torture," Natasha said simply, no hint that she was joking, because deep down, that is what she wanted to do to the culprit. Wanda's eyes widened in instant panic, her eyes darted to Vision and then Steve.

"She's joking," Steve assured her. Although, he later sent her a glance which showed that he wasn't completely sure that she was joking. She looked back at him with a controlled expression, deciding not to agree with him because part of her seriously wanted to torture whoever was responsible for this whole situation. She just stared him right in the eye before looking away and making her way back to the quinjet.

* * *

The team split up, with Natasha, Falcon and War Machine heading to one location and Steve, Wanda and Vision heading to a second location. Those were the two locations in which they could find Tori Raven, one was where the call was made from, the other was her current dwelling. Natasha's team ended up being the ones who had to cover two miles through a town to get to her apartment, which she insisted that both Falcon and Vision ran with her at her chosen rate. She maintained a steady speed which, for her, did not raise her heart beat too much while still getting them to their destination swiftly.

As she slowed to a stop outside Tori's apartment, she heard a few heavy breaths, but didn't bother to check which one it was coming room, "Be alert, boys. She tends to throw toasters at people." She warned them, completely serious about Tori throwing toasters, as she had nearly been hit by one of them many years ago. She entered the building from the front with Falcon on foot, whilst War Machine went out back and flew up to the relevant window, three stories high. Her footsteps were light as could be; she took a moment to analyse Falcon's as they made their way up the second flight of steps and decided he would receive a 8/10 on stealthiness. She told Kristina she was taking them on a practice mission and had every intention of rating their performance later. "Nice use of the 'language' statement earlier."

"It was fresh in my head, Stark mentioned it to me before we left today," Falcon answered. "How long are we going to tease him about it?"

"Who said we were ever going to stop?" Natasha replied as they reached the third floor, she ignored the look from Falcon and stepped towards the door and tested the handle; locked. Without hesitation she quickly picked the lock before slowly pushing the door open, taking her gun out and holding it up as she walked in. The only movement she heard was the distinctive footsteps of War Machine in his Iron Suit- 3/10. She walked in further and saw him standing there, looking at something behind the kitchen counter.

"What does your friend look like?" He asked her, glancing up at them.

Natasha walked into the kitchen fully and saw Tori Raven, dead on the floor, "Like that." She answered his question before stepping over the body and crouching down, "Single gunshot wound, doesn't appear to be any resistance-either she didn't see it coming or she knew her killer." She pursed her lips for a moment, "Based on lividity and level of decomposition, she seems to have died a few days ago, probably not long after she called me."

"How did you do that?" War Machine asked surprised.

Natasha rummaged through Tori's pockets, "When you've been around enough dead bodies; you pick up a thing or two." She pulled out some gum, loose change, and hairbands, pocketing two of the hair bands as she stood up and throwing the other items onto the kitchen counter. "We need to search the place, see if we can figure out where she got the A.I.M. information from."

"Shouldn't we call the police? Report the body?" Falcon asked, looking a bit sick from seeing the bluish corpse.

"No," Natasha answered before pulling open the drawers and searching through them.

"I'll call Steve to update him and then Stark to see what he can do about the body," War Machine stated before walking out of the room.

Natasha looked up at Falcon, who hadn't moved, "You can start searching the living room." He nodded and walked off. She was confused as to why he seemed hesitant and distracted by the presence of a dead body. He used to be in the army, surely he had seen them before.

* * *

An hour later, the entire place had been thoroughly searched, "I cannot find anything that indicates that she buys and sells information." War Machine spoke as he placed a photo frame back where he got it, "maybe her boyfriend would know?" he offered as a lead, when Natasha sent a glare at him.

"Let's work out where he is, it doesn't seem likely that he wouldn't have noticed his girlfriend's dead body if he were here," Natasha responded. "Falcon, call Steve, check if he's found anything."

"Yes Ma'am," Falcon replied.

"Call me ma'am again, and I'll castrate you," Natasha replied evenly, deciding that his tone seemed mocking, before finding a business card underneath the best side cabinet. "Son of a b-"

"Language."

Natasha glared at Falcon for his comment, causing him to quickly duck out of the room, now wasn't the time for joking. She looked at War Machine, who was looking at her impassively and handed him the business card, "Recognise that name?"

War Machine looked at the card and shook his head, "No, who's Joe Silvermane?"

"His real name is Joseph Manfredi, you may know him as Blackwing," Natasha started as she moved the side cabinet out of the way, but there wasn't anything else under it. "I went up against him a couple of years ago. He lost. Last I heard he made this team called Heavy Mettle, but not sure exactly what the team was for."

"Oh, so you think your friend was working with him?" War Machine asked.

"More likely, he was connected to A.I.M. in some way or he was her source. She had the habit of digging into things and getting herself in dangerous situations; looks like this time it got her killed," Natasha said with a hint of remorse.

Falcon walked back in, "Steve said that they found the diner she went into a couple of times a week; they haven't seen her in four days." Natasha nodded.

"Have you heard of this guy, Joe Silvermane or Blackwing?" War Machine asked Falcon.

"Yeah, I heard Blackwing was selling high-tech weaponry, it was rumoured that he got it from A.I.M., why?" He replied.

"She had his card, looks like she got messed up in something," War Machine commented as he handed him the card.

Falcon smiled, "It has his number, let's call him." He said, getting out his phone.

Natasha instantly strode over to him, snapping the card out of his hands, "You want to call him while we are out in the open? Defenseless?" She questioned, to which he shook his head, "You both need a lot more training, start taking this seriously." She snapped, walking out of the room. Seconds later she heard their footsteps following, but both of them remained silent. Natasha knew that she probably shouldn't have snapped at them, but they did need more training and they needed to know that when on a mission, they could be attacked at any moment-neither of them were prepared or skilled enough to multi-task talking and being strategic and alert.

* * *

Kristina's POV.

Kristina walked out of the lab, glancing back at Tony nervously, Pepper looked really mad at him. She walked into the lounge area and picked up the soccer ball that she was playing with earlier Sam was here; they had played soccer and other sports when she spent time with him a couple of months ago. Dropping it on the floor, she started kicking it against one of the walls as she waited for Pepper and Tony to finish talking. She didn't know Pepper that well, but knew that she could tell her Mom that she had blown up a wall with Tony-she didn't want to get in trouble. She missed the ball, it rolling past her and jogged over to it, seeing as she was further away from the wall this time, she kicked it hard with the point of her foot; however, she wasn't concentrating and the ball flew out one of the open windows near the ceiling and out of the building.

With wide surprised eyes, Kristina ran over to the massive windows, which were more like doors and took a careful look down. She was so far up that she couldn't even tell where the ball had went. For a moment, she thought about going to tell Tony what had happened, but she didn't want to interrupt them. She knew she had to get the ball back because it was Sam's, so she decided to go and get it. Taking the elevator down and back again would only take a few minutes, and the two adults would never have to know. At least she hadn't _broken_ a window.

Without hesitation, Kristina confidently walked into the elevator, riding it down to the bottom floor and getting out. She made her way out of the building without any resistance and started to look around for the ball; she wanted to find it and get back up before Tony and Pepper finished their conversation.

"Hey! Did you just come out of Stark Tower?" Somebody asked her.

Kristina jumped, not expecting somebody to approach her and turned to face them, she saw a girl, probably a little older than herself. She was slightly taller with black hair and kind blue eyes, "Hi… Yeah I did." She answered.

"How did you get in there?" The girl questioned curiously.

"I drove into the parking area and then took the elevator up," Kristina answered with a smile.

The girl seemed to consider this option, "But what about the security?"

Kristina tilted her head before smiling, "Oh! Right! Tony is my uncle; I can come and go whenever I want."

"He is! That's amazing!"

"Thanks! I'm Kristina."

"Kate," she replied with a wide smile. "Do you think you could get me in to the building? It is like my dream to meet Iron Man!"

Kristina thought about the question for a moment before nodding, "Of course, but could you help me find a football first? It's not mine and I sort of kicked it out of the window." She admitted.

Kate laughed, "I was wondering what that flying thing was, I think it went down that alley after hitting the road." They both carefully made their way across the road and down the alley, "Is that it?"

Kristina looked at Kate and then where she was pointing, her eyes widened with delight as she ran over and picked up the football with a massive smile. As she turned around she saw a guy sitting on the floor, looking at her, he stood up quickly and stepped towards her. Kristina didn't hesitate to run away from him, grabbing Kate's hand and dragging her across the dangerous road, ignoring the horns blasting and back into the safety of Stark Tower. She pressed the button repeatedly.

"That guy was creepy," Kate admitted as she tried to get her breath back, Kristina nodded in agreement.

The elevator doors opened to reveal Pepper standing there, "Kristina! Thank goodness you're here!" She exclaimed as she stepped forward and hugged her, "Tony and I were so worried."

Kristina hugged Pepper back with one hand, "Sorry." She muttered as she pulled back, she glanced behind her to see that the guy was nowhere in sight. "This is Kate, can she come up?"

Pepper looked at Kate, "Where are your parents?"

Kate shrugged, "At work, I think."

Pepper indicated for them both to enter the elevator, which they did, "I'll get Tony to pull up their details and let them know where you are then, Kate. How do you two know each other?"

Kristina looked at Kate, hoping she didn't say anything about the ball, but didn't speak herself as she knew her lying was awful, "We're friends."

"More like best friends," Kate corrected with a smile. Pepper smiled at them before the elevator opened.

Tony was in his Iron Man gear and looking at them, "What were you thinking? Leaving the building alone is very dangerous! What was so important that you left?"

"She just went to let her friend Kate in," Pepper answered for them.

Tony walked over to an area of the room, and some machines took his Iron Man suit off him, "A friend? Why didn't you say so, I would have ordered pizza before she got here!"

Kristina looked at Kate to see her staring at Tony, star-struck, "Pizza sounds great."

"Firstly, you need to call her parents, let them know she's here," Pepper interrupted. Kristina refrained from glaring at her, she seemed like a fun-ruiner so far; she had asked to stay with Tony, not Pepper.

"Of course, what are your parents names?" Tony asked, pulling out his tablet.

Kate looked at Kristina before answering, "Derek Bishop- But he won't care where I am."

Tony raised an eyebrow but did not comment on her little dig at her father, "Bishop Publishing?" He questioned, to wish she nodded. "Hello, may I speak with Derek Bishop please. Well, interrupt his meeting, it's about his daughter. No, she's not in hospital or dead… right. Let him know that she's over a friends." He hung up and almost tossed his phone onto the table, "I say we go for ice cream too."

Kristina grinned, she looked at Kate who also smiled widely, "Yeah!"

* * *

 **Thank you for reading! Shout out to my beta: Sanctuaria!**


	18. Chapter Seventeen

**Author's note:**

 **Hello! It has been a little over a week, my apologies. However, the following chapter is already written, so that will be coming in a few days (I wrote that chapter first).**

 **Thank you ever so much to my brilliant reviewers on my last chapter: discordchick, ItsOkayI'mAnAvenger, , prankprincess123 and finally, Sanctuaria.**

 **I just want to give a massive shout out to my beta and good friend; Sanctuaria!**

* * *

Natasha, Falcon and War Machine met back up with Steve, Wanda and Vision, they re-analysed all of the information they had collected. They were currently gathered around a table, at one of Natasha's safehouses, she decided to not disclose any information about this safehouse or how many she had-it was better to be safe. They had been sitting there for no more than 20 minutes having small discussions about what they could do and the chances of finding any information of the group when Vision spoke loud enough to interrupt the entire team.

"After doing research into the group that goes by the name Heavy Mettle, I have located Dalton Beck who used to be their affiliate," Vision informed them as he hovered behind them all. The entire team turned around to face him.

"That was some quick-ass researching," War Machine commented.

"Language," Natasha muttered, unable to pass up the opportunity, Steve even responded with a small annoyed glance, but did not comment.

"I did use to be a computer," Vision pointed out.

"Where is he?" Natasha asked, refocusing them on the task at hand.

"Rhode Island, he appears to have a job working as a delivery man," Vision answered simply.

A light crease appeared on Natasha's brow as she mentally debated why Dalton Beck would leave Heavy Mettle to go to Rhode Island; there must be more to that story, "Does he have any family or ties there?"

"As far as I can tell, all of his family are deceased and he is not entangled in any relationship, either romantic or otherwise as far as I can detect," Vision answered.

"Does this mean we are all going to Rhode Island?" Wanda asked, looking at Natasha.

Natasha looked up at her before turning her attention to Steve, "Can I have a word with you, in private?" She asked. He barely nodded before she walked into the bedroom-that being the furthest room from the lounge where the rest of the team were.

He walked in moments after her, "You don't want them coming to Rhode Island?" he questioned instantly.

Natasha looked up at him, "I didn't say that. However, I believe it would be ineffective for six individuals to turn up and question him. It would draw too much attention to us."

"Who do you recommend going to question him?" Steve asked her.

Natasha almost answered straight away, but decided that because Steve and her were supposed to be co-leaders, it would be wise to get his opinion, "Who do you think should go? This could be a good learning curve, but they need to be confident in what they do."

Steve looked at her for a moment, "Wanda. If we need to get information, she could use her powers to make him…"

"Re-live his worst nightmare," Natasha supplied.

"It would be a good learning curve to teach her how to remain undetected and how to maintain a cover," he suggested and explained his reasoning.

Natasha nodded, "Good idea. I'll take Falcon with me, so if anything goes wrong he can get Wanda out and to safety. You should give War Machine some tips on stealth; he is far too loud in his suit. And maybe try working out how to get Vision to blend in with a crowd- they are both fine if we get attacked by aliens...or machines. But when we are trying to sneak around or gather information, they stick out. Also, check if War Machine is able to call his suit like Tony is, it would be a lot of help if he didn't have to wear it for the entire mission."

"You don't want me coming with you?" Steve questioned.

"And leave two recruits alone?" Natasha replied simply. "The smaller the group, the better," she added before walking back into the room and telling them the rough plan. They divided once again into two teams, working out what they were going to do.

* * *

As the landed on the outskirts of the town where Dalton currently worked and lived, War Machine double checked Falcon's 'backpack'. It was disguised to look like a normal black backpack, but actually contained his Falcon wings. All he needed to do was do up the strap across his chest and pull another 'strap' to open up the bag and he could fly straight off. Wanda was fiddling with the jacket she had been given. It was a simple black one, and it was obvious she was nervous despite Vision's help in keeping her calm.

Natasha stood from the pilot's seat, grabbing the grey and black hoodie and slipping it on as she looked at them, "Are you ready?" Falcon nodded instantly, standing a little bit taller as proof. Wanda nodded after a second before zipping up her jacket. "Let's go then."

Falcon and Wanda turned to the back as Natasha hit the open button. "Good luck out there," Steve said.

"Stay close." She advised Steve, who simply nodded before she followed the two recruits into the forest area in which they landed. "Do either of you remember the way?"

"Of course," Falcon answered straight away and then went to lead.

Natasha halted him with a hand to the arm, "Wanda?"

Wanda looked at Falcon for a split second, "Yes, I know the way."

"You lead then," Natasha decided. Falcon fell back to fall in line with her as Wanda walked ahead of them, he sent her a look. "I know you can track and memorise maps; I don't know if she can." She whispered.

Falcon nodded, "Is this whole thing a test?"

Natasha shook her head, "I wish it was." She replied honestly.

"I won't tell anybody if you called Kristina to check up on her," Falcon informed her softly.

Natasha looked at him, considering his suggestion but eventually shook her head, "I don't make personal calls on a mission. I am confident that she is safe with Tony."

"Are we talking about the same Tony? The one who created a killing machine and…" Falcon started by was silenced by Natasha's glare.

"I trust Tony with my daughter," She said confidently, but she knew that those words were going to come and bite her in the arse later. "Other right," Natasha added to Wanda who headed in the wrong direction. Wanda changed directions, looking down slightly. "What are your covers?"

"Excuse me?" Wanda asked, turning to look at them.

"We cannot walk into the town as ourselves, we need a cover, so if anybody asks we know who we are and who each other is," Natasha explained. "I am Nadine Roney, American, here on a road trip."

"Matt Macon, best friend of Nadine, was thinking about moving here and was wondering the rates for delivery trucks," Falcon stated his cover.

Wanda put on a brave face, "Lina.. Kite… Nadine's… sister?"

Natasha raised an eyebrow at her selection, "Can you do an American accent?" she questioned. Wanda shook her head, "Right, I am Nadine Kite, Scandanavian." She amended, changing her accent to match Wanda's.

"How did we meet?" Falcon asked.

"Lina and I moved to America with our father when we were teens, we went to college together," Natasha theorised, and waited for them to both agree. The next half an hour was them working out details of their new identities, Natasha constantly amending hers to fit theirs, before they arrived in the town. After walking around for a bit, buying a map and 'normal' snacks, they visited the delivery service which Dalton worked for.

"Hello, I was wondering what the cost for a man and a van would be?" Falcon asked at the front desk.

The man behind the counter narrowed his eyes slightly in confusion, this was a small town and it seemed they were not used to strangers, Natasha approached them, "Matt, can't you just get a man and a van back in Cali?"

"No, if I move here, it would make more sense to hire one of these guys," Falcon replied before looking back at the man, who seemed less suspicious.

"You're moving here?"

"Looking into it, seems like a nice and quiet town," Falcon replied. "Just wanted to check it out and see what kind of prices it would be to move my stuff down here."

"How big of a van where you thinking about?" The man asked.

"Not too big, I don't have a great deal of things, can I have a look at the vans, see which one might be the right size? I didn't think too much of the size," Falcon said.

"Go ahead."

"Thanks," Falcon said with a smile as him and Natasha walked off to look at the vans, Wanda walked over to them, remaining silent.

They looked around for a good ten minutes before Natasha saw Dalton, "Just saw him leave the office and head out back." She whispered to them, she saw Falcon take Wanda's arm and lead her out the front as Natasha slipped out the back after him, "Dalton Beck."

Dalton spun around with wide eyes, took one look at her and legged it, he cut down an alleyway and down the street, Natasha easily kept up with him with Wanda and Falcon trailing her. She kept her distance as she knew he would more than likely to lead them to a more secluded area, which he did. She sped up and pushed him into the back of his own truck when he unlocked it, "I have a few questions for you." Natasha told him, her fingers digging into his arms as she held him.

"I'm not saying anything," Dalton growled.

Natasha smirked as Falcon and Wanda came to stand on the opposite side of the car, and with the position Dalton was currently in, they were behind him, "This is not negotiable."

"You'll have to kill me," Dalton spat as he attempted to kick or hit her in anyway, but failed. Instead he received a calculated blow to his nose, breaking it in one clean hit.

"The questions are: Where can we find every member of Heavy Mettle and what are the locations of every base or site they could meet up in or hold somebody?" Natasha waited for him to glare at her before looking up at Wanda and nodding.

"You asked for it," Natasha muttered as she watched Wanda twist her hands and the red mist released into the circumference of his head before disappearing.

Dalton's eyes widened in shock and fear, "What… what…" he muttered. He started thrashing about, his head turning from side to side rapidly, "I'll talk! I will! Oh my God! Make it stop, make it stop!" he screamed.

Natasha looked up at Wanda. "I can't make it stop… it will wear off," she told her quietly.

"Tell us what we want to know, otherwise it'll get worse," Natasha threatened.

"There's nothing worse than this!" Dalton retorted.

"You sure about that?" Natasha growled as she leant closer to him, "This is just the start of what I am capable of and I haven't even lifted a finger yet."

Dalton's eyes came into focus, like he was realising they were still in the car. He was sweaty, pale and breathing heavily. Although, he was obviously still be haunted by whatever it is, "Heavy Mettle? Right? You said a place to keep somebody? If they are torturing them it would probably be the base in Wyoming, it's in the middle of nowhere and they fly there. There's literally no one for miles, just woods-and there's booby-traps all throughout them. If not there…"

"Longitude and latitude for all their bases; put that one at the top," Natasha ordered handing him a pen and a paper. He leant up, still panting and still with that haunted look as he wrote down eleven places.

"That's the bases and homes that I know," Dalton informed her. Natasha grabbed the paper and stepped out off the vehicle. "Wait… make it stop? I did what you asked! You gotta make it stop."

"Let's go," Natasha said before setting off, she checked that Wanda and Falcon were following her with a look in a window.

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 **I would love a review!**


	19. Chapter Eighteen

**Author's Note:**

 **Thank you to my amazing reviewers: Sanctuaria, discordchick and kira shadow wolf. You make it worth writing.**

* * *

Kristina's POV

Kristina squealed as the water hit her back as she jumped over the couch and ducked behind it. She held her water gun close to her chest as she took a few deep breaths. With determination, she jumped up and aimed, firing at Kate and hitting her stomach. After a second she turned to get Tony, who had disappeared.

"Us against him?" Kate asked with a smile on her face.

Kristina grinned in reply and nodded firmly, "Yes." She agreed verbally before they both ran to the sink and filled up the water guns. "Ready?"

"Ready." They both turned serious, determination gracing both of their faces as they made their way around the floor in which the fight was limited too. Kate pushed Kristina to the side behind a wall, as she began firing on Tony.

"You have to be quicker than that, little one," Tony replied tauntingly.

Kristina quickly bent down to her knees before swiftly poking her head and gun out and firing; she quickly adjusted her position and hit Tony across the stomach and chest, "Got you!"

"Wait… you can't team up against me," Tony complained.

"I don't remember that being a rule," Kate spoke with an innocent expression before looking at Kristina. "Do you?"

"Nope, maybe next time we should write them down," Kristina suggested with a wide smile on her face. "I think we won," she decided as she stood up.

"How did you work that out? Both of you are soaked!" Tony replied.

"But you're an adult…"

"And Iron Man…"

"And we hit you…"

"Therefore, we win," Kate finished.

"I don't think it works like that," Tony informed them. "Because I…" he suddenly stopped as the elevator doors opened and Pepper walked out.

"I think it's time for lunch… what happened?" Pepper asked, her voice unamused as she looked at them. "When I said entertain them… I didn't mean…"

"It was just a water fight, not real weapons this time," Tony defended.

"This time? He lets you play with real weapons?" Kate whispered to Kristina with excited eyes.

"Yeah, I blew up a wall," She replied with a massive smile on her face. "He's so cool."

"Kristina, Kate, how about we find you some dry clothes to wear," Pepper said, indicating for them to follow her. They both looked at Tony sadly, not wanting to end the fun, before following Pepper obediently.

* * *

Kristina walked into the hallway to see Kate waiting there, already fully dressed, "Hey. You got changed quickly."

"Thanks," Kate replied with a smile. "Want to go to the park?"

Kristina nodded, "Sure." Kate grinned in response and they made their way into the elevator, Kate pressed the button to go down. "Wait, shouldn't we go and ask Tony and Pepper?"

"Why?" Kate asked, as she was seriously confused as to why they needed permission.

Kristina felt her phone in her jeans pocket, "So they know where we are." Kate shrugged and dismissed that notion. "If we're not going to tell them, we just can't be too long," She negotiated.

"Okay," Kate agreed easily before they well into a mostly comfortable silence.

Kristina wasn't comfortable with leaving Stark Tower, especially after encountering that weird man last time she left. She knew that she was probably being irrational, Kate didn't seem scared or worried about leaving at all. And before Kristina had been reunited with her real parents, she had no problem leaving the house whenever she wanted, running off, or going to a different place without telling anybody. She just didn't want to disappoint her parents, and had been repeatedly warned to not go anywhere without permission or an adult. It didn't help the fact that when she went out earlier to collect the ball, both Tony and Pepper made a huge deal out of it.

Kristina was so absorbed in her thoughts, that she willing walked out of the elevator and down the street with Kate, it was only when Kate spoke, did she realise how far she had actually gone, "Are you okay?"

Deciding that it was pointless turning back now, without at least looking at the park she nodded, "Yes. How big is the park?"

"It's _huge_ , one of the best things about this neighbourhood!" Kate announced with a wide smile. "I always climb the trees and pretend I'm a superhero, like Iron Man."

Kristina grinned at this, "I want to be like Black Widow when I'm older." She announced.

Kate's face lightened up, "I want to be like Hawkeye! He shoots Arrows! And I want to do archery _so_ badly."

Kristina couldn't hide the massive grin on her face but refrained from telling her that who her parents were, she decided it would be best to see her face when they return. That way, she knows Kate would believe her, Kristina barely believed that they were her own parents, she wasn't able to trust that anybody would listen to her and take her word. So she just smiled at this piece of information that she had and kept it to herself, "how much further until we get to the park?" She asked instead.

"It's a bit of a walk," Kate replied.

"Want to run there?" Kristina asked, too excited to be sensible. With one look from Kate, she knew that they were about to start running. Seconds later, they were both running down the street, dodging past people. Kristina didn't stop when she bumped into somebody, receiving a yell of annoyance after her, but she ignored it and made sure to not lose sight of Kate, who was faster than she was. By the time they got to the park, Kristina had to take deep breaths to compose herself, it had been a lot further than she anticipated.

Kate was more out of breath than she was, and looked at her, "That was fun… I'm tired now." She admitted.

Kristina laughed, "It was just a little run." She stuck out her tongue teasingly, before taking a look around and running across the large field towards the swings. She took a glance behind her to see Kate right on her tail. Turning back around, she focused all of her power into her legs to make her trail faster, unfortunately, as she neared the swings, she saw Kate running beside her. "You're fast!"

"You too!" Kate called back in reply as she sped up slightly, just in time to reach the swings before Kristina. It didn't matter though, as there was two swings. Kate jumped on the closest swing, making Kristina run that extra couple of feet to get on the next one. Even though they were both obviously tired, they began swinging instantly. "If you see somebody that looks like me just three years older, let me know."

"Why?"

"Because that's my sister, I'm hiding from her," Kate informed her.

Kristina looked at her surprised, halting her swinging, "Wait, your sister is here?"

Kate stopped swinging as well and looked at Kristina guiltily, "She is supposed to be looking after me. But she was hanging out with friends and told me to go and play, that she'll find me later. I wasn't supposed to leave the park."

Kristina stared at Kate completely dumbfounded by her confession, she had a sister and a father and yet she was acting as if she was in foster care. It appeared that she had no regard for how her sister would react when she couldn't find her. "I think I should head back, I don't want Tony or Pepper to be worried."

"What? Why?" Kate asked, her mouth agape.

"Because they'll be worried… and I'll get in trouble," Kristina answered as she stood up, stepping away from the swing.

"Okay, we'll go back," Kate said as she got off the swing too, with the intention of coming with her.

"I don't think that's a good idea, you should find your sister… the world is not safe and you shouldn't go outside without an adult," Kristina replied, mimicking what her Dad said. She took in the surprise and hurt on Kate's face and instantly felt bad, she didn't really know Kate and it was rude of her to make assumptions, "I'm sorry, I…"

"I'm confused… I thought we were friends…"

"We are… but…"

"But what?"

Kristina sighed, "I…"

"Hello," A male voice appeared. They both turned to see a male, he was old, but no older than either of their fathers. He had a bit of stubble and was wearing black clothing. "Your Dad asked me to pick you up, he's a bit tied up at the moment."

"My Dad or hers?" Kate asked, which Kristina was thankful for, because she didn't think she would be able to talk right now.

"Not you sweetheart, your friend," the male replied.

Once again, Kristina remained deadly quietly, thankfully, Kate spoke up again, "Prove it, what's her Dad's name?"

"Hawkeye," he replied, however Kate gave him a disbelieving look and started to step away, her hand grabbing Kristina's hand. Kristina had already started stepping away too. The male's hand darted out and grabbed Kristina's upper arm.

"Let go off me," Kristina muttered, panic filling up in her. Right now, she would do anything to be back at Stark Tower—she'd rather let Pepper choose the game.

"Let go off her!" Kate shouted, this worried Kristina lot more and she pulled away from the male.

Why would her Dad send a stranger, he wouldn't, never trust somebody you don't know. He always told her who he would send. She felt the male's hand on her arm tighten as he stepped closer pushing Kate back, making her fall to the ground.

Then, before Kristina could even react to Kate landing on the ground, she felt herself being yanked towards the guy, her hand leaving Kate's and an involuntary scream left her mouth, which was muffled within seconds. Sheer panic filled her and she couldn't remember anything, including the limited number of fighting classes she had. She kicked her legs, occasionally hitting his legs, but that didn't seem to have any effect. She couldn't hear anything above her own heartbeat, as she tried to catch her breath, but his hands were covering her mouth and obstructing her breathing from her nose too. The surroundings seemed to change slightly, but she couldn't focus, all she saw was the blur of green.

The tears were falling down her cheeks rapidly and she felt so defenceless, so lost, so helpless. Unable to process what was happening or going on around her, she was shocked when her feet hit the ground suddenly and crumbled to the group. She quickly wiped her eyes, so she could see through the tears and noticed that she was in a completely different area of the park—at least she believed she was—and there a hole in the ground, one that looked like an explosion went off. Confusion set in for a second, but she didn't try making sense of anything, she just knew that she needed to start running. She had barely stood up when somebody touched her shoulder and with a blood-curling scream she turned to face them, ready to punch them and run off but came face to face with Iron Man. She stopped, staring blankly at him, still not really aware what was going on or paying at notice to the tears streaming down her face. Nothing was registering, she was just staring at Iron Man. Unsure what to do. Did she still need to run? Was it Tony in the Iron Man suit? Was he going to grab her too? Was she safe?

Kristina looked away from him—frozen on the spot—to work out what happened to the man that grabbed up, to make sure he wasn't going to try getting her again, but couldn't see him. As she turned back she saw the Iron Man suit opening, making her step back. However, she instantly stepped forward and jumped on Tony as soon as he came into focus. She didn't think that it was possible for her to hold onto anybody tighter than she currently was, she could barely even remember where she was. All she knew was that Tony was safe.

If anybody asked her what had happened, she didn't think she would be able to put it into words. One moment she was arguing with Kate, then the guy had approached them and then everything went crazy. There was one thing she was certain of though, she was not letting go of Tony any time soon.

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 **Please, please review! I'd love to hear what you have to say, want to see or any opinion!**


	20. Chapter Nineteen

**Author's Note:**

 **Massive thank you to my lovely reviewers on my last chapter: BookLuv; discordchick; Sanctuaria.**

* * *

Natasha felt the buzz in her pocket as they landed the quinjet, she briefly checked it and saw that it was Tony, taking a calming breath she answered it, "Tony, unless you or Kristina are dying, now is not the time."

There was a pause and Natasha almost checked to see if she had actually answered the call. "Give me a call when you have a second to call," he said eventually.

"I will, as soon as I infiltrate this base and get out, I'll call you back," Natasha promised, they both said bye before she hung up, placed it back into her pocket and checked her portable mini electric bombs.

The team had decided to split into three teams of two, as there were three easy-medium entrance points. Natasha ended up going with Falcon-she had been so far impressed with his skills and wanted to further evaluate him-and they were entering the base from the south corner. Vision and War Machine were entering the base from the roof, and finally Steve and Wanda were going straight in the front doors. They had landed the quinjet five miles from the base, as it really was in the middle of nowhere and it would draw too much attention to park any closer.

Vision carried Wanda at the same time that War Machine carried Steve to the edge of the forest, right near the base, so they didn't have to make their way through the booby-trapped forest. Vision and War Machine then flew up to the top of the trees and waited until they were ordered to strike.

Falcon ferried Natasha to their point of entry, "Now." She said forcefully through the microphone in her ear right before she threw a electric thing at the window, shattering it right before she was thrown threw it by Falcon. She flipped as she entered the building and instantly rolled when her feet touched the ground to minimise the impact on her knees, feet and legs as she landed. She was up, her gun pointed forward, her eyes narrowed when she didn't meet immediate resistance, and she waited for Falcon to land beside her and arm himself before swiftly making her way down the corridor.

As the hallway split into two, Natasha couldn't help the smile that graced her lips when two guards appeared, both wearing full black and aiming directly at her. A split second later she noticed that Falcon had three guys aiming at him and couldn't help but wonder why they thought he was more of a threat. Nevertheless, she jumped straight into action, literally. Natasha bent her knees slightly before leaping up and kicking the guns out of both of the men's hands, she landed in a crouch position as Falcon's 'men' began shooting, two of them still holding weapons, and threw a knife in their direction, hitting one their hands and the other's arm before turning back to her own fight. Standing up slowly, she waited patiently for one of them to make their moves. They didn't disappoint, one of them launching himself towards her with his fist aiming for her face and his other hand going to grab her. With a swift kick in the abdomen and upper cut, she unbalanced him before grabbing his wrist, twisting and throwing him over her shoulder into the wall. Tearing her sight from him as his head cracked down at an awkward angle onto the floor, she jumped up, her hand pushing against the wall as her legs wrapped around the second male's head. With a twist in the air, she broke his neck and threw him down the ground.

Natasha stepped forward to take off but turned when she remembered that she was supposed to stay with Falcon. Bending down she searched the pockets of the men, pulling out three concealed knives. She placed two of them on her body and threw the other one into the head of one of the other males. It only took a few more seconds for Falcon to finish and walk down the hall with her.

"Wanda's been hit!" Steve's voice appeared in her comms. "I need to get her out of here."

"I'll get her to safety, I can fly," Vision spoke, explaining his logic.

Natasha frowned, they had barely entered the base and Wanda was already injured-she had survived Ultron and hundreds of killer robots, but apparently couldn't handle humans? Now they were down by two members of the team. "Vision, contact Dr Cho, she can help Wanda. Tell her that she may be getting another injured person."

"I shall," Vision confirmed.

Natasha and Falcon continued to make their way through the facility, fighting more men as they appeared. In one room they interrupted an entire group of around twenty mercs gearing up to go after the invaders-luckily, their tac vests were still hanging loose off one shoulder, their boots unlaced, and their weapons unloaded. They made quick work of them but still slower than Natasha would have liked in her rush to get to Clint, if he was even here. Just as she was having that thought bullets ripped through the doors of the elevator at the end of the hall in front of them, and both Natasha and Falcon dove to the side. She lifted her guns and shot back, hearing tell-tale thuds from the other side before the doors slid open with a ding to reveal the bodies. "Are you hurt?" she asked.

"Just a scratch," Falcon replied, gesturing to his arm. At first she was concerned that he might be downplaying an injury in order to keep going-or worse, in an attempt to impress her while she was evaluating him-but when she looked, it truly was just a scratch. They didn't even stop to dust themselves off before pushing onwards again.

"Natasha, I have eyes on Clint," War Machine informed her over the comms. "He's in the basement, under the east stairwell."

Natasha turned her gaze from Falcon, "We're on our way." Without a second thought, she stood up, guns out and ready to shot. She was unsure whether or not there were more assailants on the way, but she was ready and now that there was an exact location for Clint; nothing was going to stop her from getting there.

There was only three individuals with whom she needed to take out enroute, which was strange due to the resistance she had just received, but she had seen a few mercs head off base and wondered if they were told to retreat. Did that mean they had got what they needed? Does that mean they had gotten Clint to speak? She shook the thoughts from her head as she reached the east staircase, she jumped over the bodies on the floor and on the stairs. Upon reaching the open door, where Clint was, she slowed to a walk before entering and heading directly to Clint who was currently being held by War Machine and Steve-they had obviously just untied him.

"He's not talking," Steve informed her.

Natasha lifted Clint's head, but released it suddenly and stepped back, "Hold him still." She watched as he signed.

' _Kristina is in danger'._ Natasha's eyes widened, her hand grazing over her pocket. ' _Whiteboard'._ She turned and looked at the whiteboard, seeing images on there.

' _She's with Tony, she's safe'_ , she signed back. "Get him out of here."

Natasha felt her blood freeze; her body was literally stuck in place when she noticed what exactly was on the whiteboard. She forced herself to take a few steps towards it, allowing the photo of Clint and Kristina to embed itself into her mind. Her eyes drifted down to the second photo of herself and Kristina. Her mind was sent into panic mode, a mode in which she was not used to and didn't know how to react to. Instantly, she fumbled with the zip as she rushed to get her phone out of her pocket and dial Tony-now she was desperate to know why he had called her earlier. "Is she okay? What happened?" she demanded as soon as he answered.

"She is okay, just shaken up," Tony answered softly.

"What happened?" Natasha repeated, keeping her voice cold and distant. She had failed to follow Clint's request to never leave Kristina without a parent present.

"An attempted kidnapping, she's got a few bruises and her friend cut her hand, but apart from that, she's okay," Tony informed her. "She wants you and Clint, has been asking non-stop since."

"We just found Clint and..." Natasha turned around to see that only Steve was there, meaning War Machine and Falcon had taken Clint. "I'll be there as soon as I can, just need to pop to Dr Cho's and make sure she can sort him out again."

"How is he?"

"He'll be more pissed at me leaving Kristina with you, he's been tortured a lot worse- this could almost be considered as mild," Natasha replied. "Don't take your eye on Kristina, at all, until I get there. If I find out that from now until I get there, she was left alone…"

"I know, I know, you'll kill me," Tony said.

"Worse, I _won't_ kill you… you'll just wish that I had," Natasha replied before hanging up. She turned and looked at Steve, "We need to get Clint back to the Quinjet, to Dr Cho, make sure he'll make it. Then I have to get to Stark's, it's an emergency."

Steve nodded, "War Machine and Falcon are going to come back and get us once they've got Clint settled."

"No time, we'll run there. Besides, I'd rather not have Clint left alone," Natasha said before jogging from the room. She heard footsteps and took out her knife, throwing and embedding it in an enemy's head as he appeared in front of her. She wasn't met with any more resistance as she left the base and then allowed Steve to run in front of her as he was quick and could take more time to check for traps as they ran. They radioed the others and told them to wait at the Quinjet, however, War Machine ignored them and flew back alone and carried them both back one at a time as it would be faster and they all knew they needed to get Clint some help as quickly as possible.

* * *

Natasha had continued to sign to Clint, his signing was sloppy from the pain and he could only use one hand, as the other had been broken fingers.

"It's cute that you both know sign language," Falcon commented.

Natasha glanced at him for a split second before returning her attention to Clint, "It's cute that Clint is deaf and during the torture they did something to his implant?" She questioned, in her peripheral vision she saw Falcon go pale and the shock on their faces. There was a jolt in the flight, apparently her words distracted War Machine, who said he could fly the plane. She told Clint that she had to fly the plane because of the 'idiot rookies' and left him after receiving his permission. "Keep an eye on him," she told Steve before booting War Machine out of the cockpit and taking over. After a few seconds of flying, she changed the controls and sped up smoothly.

It only took about ten minutes from Natasha taking over for them to get to Dr Cho's base, she landed the quinjet on the roof, turned off all of the controls and stood up. A part of her wanted to go straight to Kristina and make sure that she was alright but she didn't want to leave Clint until she knew that he was okay-also, she couldn't leave him at all unless she was sure that somebody could communicate with him.

As soon as she was back by his side, she poked his good hand to let him know that she was there and as he looked up at her, he gave her a strained smile. ' _What does Heavy Mettle want with you?'_

' _I am not sure'_ Natasha signed back with him with a sigh. ' _But I am going to find out.'_

' _Kristina,'_ he signed.

' _Tony says she's fine, but as soon as we get you settled, I'm heading back there,'_ Natasha replied as she made sure to keep ahead of him as they wheeled his body inside, so he could see her.

"Barton, where does it hurt?" Dr Cho asked as she met them half-way. "Barton?"

' _Where does it hurt?'_ Natasha signed. She watched his hand movements and translated, "He has a pounding headache, they broke three of his fingers, they stabbed him a few times, mainly focusing on his legs, but he can barely feel that anymore. He was hit in the head repeatedly, there was a high pitched ringing in his head, drowned out all of the sound… and then nothing."

"He may have temporary loss of hearing," Dr Cho said solemnly. "We'll have to deal with that later, we need to stop all of the blood loss and examine any breakages."

"Can't you just put him on that machine again?" Steve asked.

"I wish I could, but that only works with flesh wounds. I can heal them, but we need to set the broken bones first… otherwise," Dr Cho tilted her head and stopped speaking.

"About his hearing, he has an implant- he's nearly completely deaf without it," Natasha informed her.

Dr Cho gave her a firm nod, "Let's get him on the bed. Are you able to stay and translate?" she asked Natasha, who gave a conflicted look instead of answer. "Go and find Nurse Mary!" she called to somebody.

"Whose Nurse Mary?"

"She's a trainee, her father's a friend of a friend, but she knows sign-language," she explained as she injected a needle into Clint's arm. "Why is his deafness not in his S.H.I.E.L.D. file?"

"There's a lot about him that is not in his S.H.I.E.L.D. file, he's a very private person," Natasha replied. "If you need to know anything, call my cell."

"Is he allergic to anything?" Dr Cho asked.

Natasha shook her head, "No. I'll send you a file about his hearing in about an hour." Dr Cho nodded in confirmation as she moved one of his legs whilst another doctor worked on stopping any bleeding. "Steve, you staying?"

Steve nodded, "I'll stay with him."

Natasha nodded and turned to Clint, ' _Remember, you can still talk even if you cannot hear. Anything you want me to say to Kristina?'_

' _Just tell her that I'll be home in a few days and that I love her,'_ Clint signed back, keeping his mouth firmly closed.

Natasha nodded, ' _See you soon.'_ She patted his shoulder before walking off, deciding to take the quinjet once again, however, she stopped and looked at Steve. "Tell Clint, this hand movement," she showed him and made sure he had it right before nodding. "Don't forget to check on Wanda," she reminded him before walking off, a sly smirk on her face. She stopped just a few steps away and paused to watch Steve dutifully signing her message to Clint. The archer laughed.

"You know you just said 'I want to dance naked,' right?" Clint asked. His voice was a tiny bit off due to his current deafness, but Natasha absolutely agreed with him-seeing the mortified look on Steve's face was definitely worth it.


	21. Chapter Twenty

**Author's note:**

 **I honestly did not think that I would be able to write and post this chapter within one week-my great grandmother died the day after posting the last chapter. For days my attempt in writing was... well... either non-existent, or so rubbish that the chapter would have made you fall asleep. Luckily for you all, yesterday, I managed to get back in touch with my feelings and write.**

 **However, this upcoming week, I have a lot going on, including the funeral-therefore I cannot guarantee that I will be able to write and post another chapter within a week. I hope you can all be patient with me.**

 **Thank you to the reviewers of my previous chapter:** **kira shadow wolf; BookLuv; Sanctuaria; discordchick. Thank you.**

* * *

Natasha stifled a yawn, it had been a long few days, and in reality she hadn't had a proper sleep since Fury called her a few days ago announcing-incorrectly-that Clint was killed. She was still working out exactly how to repay him for jumping to that conclusion and informing her without all the facts. As she landed the quinjet on one of the highest floors, she took a few moments to mentally prepare herself and make sure she was alert and awake-she had gone longer than this without sleep due to the fact that there was always a threat of death if she closed her eyes, but now she was at Stark's tower: there was no immediate threat, and Clint had been rescued and Kristina was currently in no danger. There was a high temptation to sneak to her room and get a few hours kip, but she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep until she knew for certain that she wouldn't be able to sleep or even rest properly until she knew that Kristina was perfectly safe. And the only way she would know she was safe was if she was with her.

With that thought, Natasha rose from her seat at the cockpit and made her way out. Confident strides brought her through the floor she was on, "JARVIS Jr, where is Kristina?" she asked, using the newest name for Stark's computer-which had changed several times since his old JARVIS became Vision.

"She is in the main lounge with Tony," JARVIS Jr answered.

Natasha nodded and made her way to the elevator with her senses still on high alert; she didn't think she would be able to relax for a long while-not until she knew Kristina was safe and that Clint was back to normal. She stepped out of the elevator onto the relevant floor, her pace quickening as she walked into the room. She made a bee-line towards Tony and Kristina who were on the couch before slowing to a stop behind them as their conversation caught her attention.

"No," Kristina insisted, crossing her arms and attempting to get up.

"Sit down," Tony said firmly. He sounded almost bored with the request, like he had repeated it a thousand times already.

"You can't tell me what to do! You're not my dad!" Kristina protested as she was pulled back onto the couch.

"I don't care who I am; you will listen to me," Tony replied.

"No! I want my parents!" Kristina shouted, although she didn't attempt to stand up again.

Tony sighed, running a hand over his face, "Well, they are not here and if you don't shut up, I am going to stick you to the ceiling."

"Go on then! Then my Mom will kick your ass!" Kristina retorted quickly.

"If I hear you talk to Tony like that again, _I'll_ stick you to the ceiling," Natasha spoke from behind them, making Kristina jump in surprise and look at her. Tony turned around; she wondered if he had known she was there since she first walked in. "I am disappointed in your behaviour. Come here." Even though she was angry at how rude Kristina was currently being to Tony and that she would probably be shouting at him later herself, she was glad she was safe. She opened her arms and watched as Kristina hesitantly stood up, waiting for Tony to tell her to sit again-but when that didn't happen she ran around the couch and jumped into her arms.

"I missed you so much!" She announced, fresh tears leaving her already red eyes. "I thought you left me forever!"

Natasha held her tightly, many responses floating through her head. She rejected them all quickly and decided that stating the obvious was the best response, "I'm right here, Kristina." She looked at Tony and mouthed that she'd talk to him later, adding a thank you before carrying Kristina off to her bedroom which Tony had allocated to her once the defeated Ulton.

* * *

Natasha attempted to place Kristina down after walking into her bedroom, but Kristina refused to let go of her, "Kristina, I'm not going anywhere." She promised and felt the grip loosen before Kristina reluctantly let her go.

"You were gone for so long," her daughter complained as she climbed onto the bed and sat crossed-legged in the middle of it.

Natasha sat down on the edge, kicked off her shoes and faced her, "I was gone for eleven hours. Back in time to tuck you into bed in a little while."

Kristina shook her head, "You were gone _all_ day! And I'm not tired."

With a small laugh and shake of the head, Natasha slid towards Kristina, tickling her sides, "A bedtime is a bedtime." She pointed out.

Kristina squealed with laughter, "But I'm still not tired." She reasoned as she attempted to wiggle out of her mother's grip.

"You can stay up for another 30 minutes, but just because I want to know what you did while I was away," Natasha said, forcing herself to not grow serious.

"Well," Kristina started dramatically as she caught her breath and sat up straight. "Tony… said I can't tell you about blowing up the wall. But he didn't say anything about after that. So, I was playing with the ball when Pepper was telling Tony off and I kicked it out-"

Natasha listened carefully as Kristina recounted everything that had happened whilst she was away since kicking the ball out of the bay windows. She was curious about what she meant by 'blowing up the wall' but would simply interrogate Tony or Pepper about that later. The atmosphere changed when she began telling her about the attempted kidnapping. natasha could tell how much it had affected her daughter without her saying it outright; she lacked details and couldn't even remember how she had gotten back to Stark Tower.

"-And I shouted at Tony after a while, saying that I wanted you or Dad… and I threw a cushion across the room. He tried telling me what to do, but I didn't listen; I was naughty. But I just wanted you and Dad."

Natasha pushed herself back against the headboard and leant against it, holding her arms open slightly, "Come here." She remembered when Clint used to just hold her-obviously she pretended she hated it-but it helped her to know there was somebody there. It was odd that a simple hug or being in somebody's arms was so comforting. Kristina shuffled towards her and wrapped her arms around her midsection; Natasha placed her arms around her, "I saw your father."

Kristina's head snapped up to look at her, "Is he coming back?"

Natasha ran a hand through her hair, "Soon. There was a little accident, and they need to sort out his hearing."

"His hearing?"

"Yes, you see-your father is actually deaf, but he had an implant which… in simple terms, made him able to hear. Something happened to it, so he's with a doctor to get it fixed," Natasha explained in the most basic way she could think of, she saw the solemn look on her daughter's face. "I was thinking that tomorrow, I could teach you some sign language, so it doesn't matter if he has the implant or not-those things aren't always perfect."

"Is it hard to learn?" Kristina questioned lightly.

"Not at all," Natasha replied. After a long stretch of time, she began humming, she noticed how Kristina's eyes closed but she remained very much awake. As she closed her own eyes, she softly began singing a Russian lullaby, not knowing any English ones. She knew she would have to learn some, unless she decided to teach Kristina Russian. It wasn't long before she felt Kristina relax completely and fall asleep.

Natasha resorted back to humming after the song had ended for approximately ten minutes before silence overtook the room.

* * *

Natasha laid with Kristina for nearly thirty minutes, her eyes closed but unable to allow herself to fall asleep, before she lifted Kristina off her and slid off the bed. With a quick tug, she pulled out the covers and threw them over Kristina before writing a quick note and placing it in her hand in case she woke up while she was gone. With another glance at her sleeping daughter, she walked out of the room.

"JARVIS Jr, who is Kate?" Natasha asked, the question been on her mind ever since Kristina muttered her name when telling her about her day.

"Miss Katherine Elizabeth Bishop, aged 11. She spent some of the day here and was with Kristina at the time of the kidnapping."

Natasha frowned, Kristina was far too trusting. She had willingly let a stranger into the tower, just because she seemed nice-Kristina even mentioned that it was the first time she had met her.

She found Tony in his laboratory within minutes, he appeared to be working on some equipment. She thought back to the first time she met him-she was a Natalie Rushman from the legal department. Then he had discovered that she was actually a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, who was previously an assassin. And now, if he thought he knew her at all because of their meager history together, he was wrong. Her wrath if anything happened to her daughter would be a lot greater than when somebody was trying to kill her-and he was currently very close to crossing that line."Are you going to explain?" she asked as she walked in and leant against one of the cars.

"Don't lean against them, they're classics," Tony said casually as he turned to face her, looking unfazed at her murderous expression.

Natasha moved forward as she stopped leaning against the car, instead looking absentmindedly at one of Tony's new creations, "When I left Kristina with you, I was under the impression that she would be safe."

Tony looked down slightly in shame but as he looked up his usual confidently, careless expression was stoned on his face, "She is fine."

Natasha narrowed her eyes, "She had bruises on her upper arm, she's going to have nightmares about what happened and she's traumatised. I would not classify that as her being fine." She took a deep breath, she knew that Tony had technically done his job is keeping her safe-of course, allowing her to leave his home twice not accompanied with an adult was the wrong move, but he was there when she actually needed him. "Just explain what happened," she half-asked, half-ordered in a much calmer tone of voice.

Tony nodded and sat down on the stool he had next to his desk, he turned slightly so he was could tap his tablet and show a red dot labelled Kristina-it showed clearly where she was, "When I realised that she liked exploring, I put a tracker on her, which I could activate the microphone and hear exactly what was going on. She left the building with her friend Kate…"

"Katherine is not her friend, she met her _today_."

"I didn't know that; she said they were friends. When they left the building, I was notified and I turned the microphone on. I didn't want to just turn up in my Iron Man suit, seeing as they went to the park, so I put on a hat, some sunglasses and followed them out on foot. I had barely made it to the edge if the park when I heard her talking to a male-him telling her to go with him. It turned ugly quickly; I called my suit as I began running to her location." Tony stopped for a moment, as if he was remembering exactly what happened or if he was going to tell her, "Shot the guy in the leg and instantly grabbed hold of Kristina-The guy got away."

"But he would need medical," Natasha said as she crossed over to him and typed on his tablet, which was connected to his whole system. "If it's the same people that took Clint, they are using a lot of mercs-some of them well-trained." She focused on the screen as she pulled up hospital records within the last couple of hours and then narrowed it down by specific injury. Three matches, two male, one female. "Either of these guys?" She asked as she pulled up their records and pictures.

"Him," Tony said as he pulled out another tablet and pulled up his files and everything on him. He stopped for a second and picked up a box of grapes, popped one in his mouth and then continued working. "He's still at the hospital; I'll get Rhodey to apprehend him." He ate another grape. "He's a merc, used to be in the army. Seems to have a clean record, according to the law anyway-no kills." He said as he placed his phone to his ear and stepped to the side.

Natasha looked up the information Tony had found, "Then why would he agree to abduct a child?" She questioned to herself, she had been around a lot of men who didn't care who they abducted or what they did for information; men who liked children because they were defenseless, who used them as tools. However, this man, who she presumed was exactly the same as they men she had encountered, seemed squeaky clean-he mostly did surveillance work, a lot of extraction work, but nothing that indicated he would willingly abduct a child. His records are wrong or they are missing a crucial piece of information.

Tony returned to her side, "We'll get the guy and question him, and we'll get to the bottom of this." He promised. "How's Barton?"

"Pretty beaten up, but he's been worse," Natasha replied.

"Dr. Cho is pretty concerned about his hearing," Tony informed her.

Her head almost snapped up as she looked at him, "There's news?"

"She needed some supplies, just said that she needed to call in a specialist regarding his hearing," Tony explained.

Natasha wanted to go straight back to Clint, feeling the need to translate for him or get the doctors to work faster. She knew his history and medical records, but she knew she couldn't. She hated that she had to choose, but she knew that Clint would want her here. He was probably already pissed that she left Kristina and went into the field where she could have potentially been injured or killed-meaning that there would be a chance that Kristina wouldn't see either of them again. But things had turned out well, so he couldn't complain-too much anyway.

"You should get some sleep, you've had a long day," Tony advised. Natasha looked up at him blankly. "We can start fresh tomorrow; Clint and Kristina are safe, as is the rest of our team-I would say take tomorrow off too, but the threat is still out there. I'll continue the research. Go get some sleep."

"Wake me up if you find anything important… and I want to be there when we interview the son of a bitch who attempted to abduct my daughter," Natasha said emotionlessly. She hardly waited for him to nod in agreement-she was telling, not asking-before walking out of the room and back to hers. She took the note from Kristina's hand and laid on the left side of the bed. After making sure she had three weapons all within reach, but not in Kristina's reach she laid on her back and finally allowed herself to fall into a light sleep.

* * *

 **Just so you know, there are probably only a few more chapters left of this story. I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**


	22. Chapter Twenty-one

**Author's Note: Thank you for your patience, here is the next chapter!**

 **Thank you to the lovely reviewers for my previous chapter:** **BookLuv; Sanctuaria; discordchick; eClair23;** **.**

* * *

Natasha couldn't decide if she liked how clingy Kristina had become after the attempted kidnapping or not. Either way, it was a large amount of bonding after a short period of time-they had definitely connected on many levels. She was really starting to see what kind of person her daughter was-and that was a little trouble maker.

Kristina was polite, well-mannered and very clever for her age: she knew how to act and when, listened to what people were telling her and generally behaved appropriately. However, beneath that was the mischievous, trouble-making, curious and adventurous little girl. She was very independent and thrilled at the chances to do something do, including pranking.

Natasha wasn't sure if she was the best role-model for her, but continued to supply her daughter with ideas and equipment to perform the pranks on Tony. The biggest setback about Kristina's passion for pranking and water fights, was that Natasha was used as a shield.-she would be happily working out in the gym, only to hear quick footsteps running in her direction. Within moments, Kristina would barge into the room and either jump into a hug or dart behind her for protection. That was a bad thing, because Tony wouldn't cease fire, which meant that she was soaked with water or goo on more than one occasion. Although, the positives outweighed the negatives, as this side of Kristina was almost identical to her father-she was taking after him and that made Natasha happy.

Currently, Natasha was exploiting Kristina's 'girly' side and had Pepper distracting her with new outfits and hairstyles they could do, for ballet, dance or just general wear. The reason for this purposeful distraction was because Clint would be arriving soon-she wanted to examine him herself and determine the extent of the injuries, get an update and fully prepare Kristina. If Clint was physically injured, Kristina couldn't very well just run up and jump on him.

That brought her to her current position of leaning against one of Tony's 'classic cars', waiting for the quinjet to land on the roof. She had contemplated waiting on the roof, but didn't want to seem to eager-therefore, she was time it so she got to the roof just after they landed, casual lateness. As Tony turned around, she stood up from the car and could see that he wanted to mention it, but didn't, "They are landing now." He informed her.

Natasha and Tony walked in a quick, yet casual pace to the elevator before riding it up, it seemed that they both had the idea of casually turning up on the roof. "Does Kristina know he's coming?"

"I wanted it to be a surprise."

"Or… maybe you wanted some _alone_ time with him," Tony teased with a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows.

Natasha responded by rolling her eyes and ignoring him, she strode out of the elevator with confidence, Tony hot on her tail, and saw the quinjet rear open. Her eyes narrowed slightly as they scanned Clint's approaching body-there was no limp in his step, no blood anywhere, although there his left hand was bandaged; apart from that, he seemed fine. He signed a quick 'hi' to her and she felt her breath hitch slightly; did they not fix his hearing?

"Hey Stark," Clint said casually with a short wave as he lifted his other arm and pulled her to him by her waist. "I'm made of plastic," he whispered in her ear.

Natasha rolled her eyes, "Yes, you're practically a stranger now." She whispered back sarcastically.

Clint chuckled as they separated. Regardless of his being tortured merely days before, he was already back to his jokey self-at least he appeared to be. Both of them were good at bouncing back to who they are supposed to be, to finish the job or do what needed to be done. Officially, there was no job, but they both knew that they had to take out Heavy Mettle. When Clint's hand rested on her lower back she walked back into the building with him.

"Are you ready to surprise Kristina?" She asked him.

"Surprise her? She doesn't know I'm here?"

"If she did, you'd know about it by now," Natasha replied with a small smirk. "She's not exactly subtle."

Clint chuckled, "She gets that from you."

Natasha scoffed, "Sure she does." She replied sarcastically with a slight shake of her head, "She's currently with Pepper talking about clothes and hairstyles."

Clint looked at her, "Hairstyles?"

"Yes, Clint. Hairstyles, there's approximately a hundred hairstyles… possibly more."

"Not just… up or down?" He clarified. Natasha smirked teasingly at him as she quickened her pace, she stopped once in the elevator. "Are you messing with me? There's not really a hundred different hairstyles, are there?"

"Why don't you ask Kristina, I am sure she'll give you an honest answer," Natasha replied with a straight face as he entered the elevator, she pushed the button to the floor where Kristina and Pepper were. It was only as it closed that she saw Steve, Tony and Rhodey walking towards the elevator, obviously intending to get in there with them. She hadn't even noticed Steve or Rhodey before then.

"I'm not going to win this, am I?" Clint said, continuing the conversation, she was unaware if he noticed the other three were intending to come in with them. Regardless she looked up at him and shook her head. He leant down as she tiptoed slightly for a kiss. They broke apart a second before the elevator opened and walked out as if nothing had happened. Natasha redirected them so that they were walking in the right direction.

"Now, quick check," Natasha started taking his hand to stop him. "How are you?"

Clint turned to face her, "I'm fine." He told her, "I promise."

Natasha didn't look completely convinced, but decided to let it drop, she could always asking him a hundred questions later. She stepped away from him and rounded the corner and walked into the room, "Kristina, I have a surprise for you."

Kristina looked up, "What is…" She suddenly stopped her eyes going wide, "Dad!" She exclaimed jumping up, sending hairbands flying over Pepper, and running straight over to Clint.

Clint easily caught her and gave her a big hug, "Hey there, princess. Miss me?"

"I'm never letting go of you! Ever!" Kristina decided as her grip tightened. "Don't ever leave again!"

Clint chuckled, "I don't plan on letting go of you anytime soon either." He promised lightly, he moved his good arm to shift her up and hold onto her more securely-he put most of her weight on it. "Hello Pepper, how are you?"

"I'm fine, thanks. I'm glad to see that you're better-" Pepper started. Natasha shook her head quickly as Kristina's head snapped around to stare at her with wide fearful eyes. "-because I heard you had a cold."

Kristina's eyes narrowed, "You're lying. You are lying!"

"Calm down, I'm fine," Clint said putting Kristina down. "Look at me, look at me." He said until she looked at him, he held up his hand. "It's just my hand, I broke it-that's all." He assured her. He pulled her back into a hug when she just stared at his hand and then looked up at Natasha.

Natasha offered a small tilt of her head as a reply, they were going to have a long talk about Kristina-although, Clint didn't know the extent of that conversation yet.

Clint looked at her puzzling for a second, but the expression fell off his face as he picked Kristina up and walked from the room. Natasha turned to Pepper, "Thanks for keeping an eye on her."

"It was my pleasure, she is a lovely little girl," Pepper said as she started cleaning up the hair supplies.

"Where did you get so many hair bands and clips in such short notice?" Natasha asked conversationally as she helped clear it up.

"I already had them," Pepper said with a hint of confusion at that question.

Natasha took a breath; she never actually put her hair up, unless it was necessary for an undercover mission and therefore did not own many hair supplies. She had a total of two hair bands, a hairbrush and a comb. Even then, only the hairbrush was used on a regular basis. "Of course," she said with a small bow of her head. She smiled, "I should go and find Clint and Kristina." She said before walking out off the room.

* * *

Later that night, Clint had somehow convinced Kristina to go to sleep-even though she had barely let him be a metre away from her-and was lounging on the sofa. Natasha walked in, dabbing her wet hair dry with a small towel. "How did you get her to go sleep so quickly?"

Clint looked up at her, "I just told her to go sleep." He replied as if it were obvious.

Natasha pursed her lips as she sat down beside him, she still did not completely understand Kristina-then again, she was usually at a loss with children. She didn't have any experience with them and couldn't even use her own childhood as a basis. "I guess I'm more lenient with her," she commented.

"Really?" Clint asked, raising an eyebrow at her with surprise. " _You're_ the lenient one? How did that happen?" he asked.

Natasha almost laughed, a smile creeping onto her face, when looking at it at face value, it made sense that she would be the strict one and he would be the 'fun' one. However, somehow, it was the exact opposite and Natasha realised that she didn't mind one bit. "I guess I'm cooler than you."

Clint fake-gasped, "I lost that status? But, I'm an Avenger!"

"So am I," Natasha reminded him in a calmer voice before taking his injured hand and examining it. "How's your hand?"

"Hurts, the bones are on the mend, it'll take a weeks," he informed them. "I'm lucky that they were more concerned with superficial wounds; it's like they were trying to kill me with a hundred cuts or something."

"That was a pretty ineffective way to torture you," Natasha commented as she released his hand. "What happened to your hearing?"

A hint of a frown was visible on his lips, his hearing had been a touchy subject in the past-mainly because how it was lost in the first place. "It must have been a mixture of being hit in the head, the electrocutions and the frequency of the sound waves they were using."

"Sound waves?" Natasha prompted. That was unusual.

Clint shook his head, "I don't know what they were doing; they didn't know it was affecting me though."

"Are there any lasting hearing issues?" Natasha questioned.

Clint shook his head in reply, a frown still playing on his lips, "No, I did a lot of the adjustments and tuning myself-also, Tony sent over a lot of technology, Vision helped me. I actually think I have super hearing now."

Natasha rolled her eyes playfully, "Sure." She said in a distinct disbelieving tone.

"I am pretty sure I know what you're thinking, right now," Clint challenged with a wiggle of his eyebrows. He leant across the couch so that he was closer to her.

Natasha smiled innocently, fluttering her eyelashes, "Really? What am I thinking?" She leant forward, keeping her face merely inches from his.

"You are thinking about… this…" Clint whispered before pressing his lips against hers, it was a soft and could barely be considered as a kiss in her eyes.

Natasha kissed him back, but only for a second, "I was not thinking of that, and if I was…" she started before placing her hands on either side of his face and pulling him into a deep and passionate kiss. He responded instantly, his arm snaking around her waist and pulling her closer to him. One of her hands slid down his side, tugging at the waistband of his jeans when she heard footsteps. She froze and sat up, moving off Clint and turning around.

"Oh god, no! What are you doing on my couch!" Tony complained from the door, throwing a hand over his eyes dramatically. For some reason he continued to walk into the room regardless.

"We are going to continue doing it, whether you're here or not," Clint almost growled as he laid back on the couch.

Tony removed his hand and looked at them, "This is _my_ tower… and I have a lead on who hired our little friend to kidnap Kristina."

Natasha jumped up, "What have you got?"

"You were right, he's got connections to Heavy Mettle," Tony confirmed her previous theory. She followed him out of the room and noticed Clint rushing up after them.

* * *

 **Thank you!**


	23. Chapter Twenty-two

**Author's Note:**

 **Oops, it's technically a day late! My apologies!**

 **Forewarning, I am going to MCM comic con next weekend, so if I am unable to finish and publish the next chapter on Thursday, you'll have to wait until Mon or Tues! But, I am going to MCM!**

 **Sincere thanks to keara park and discordchick who took the time to review my last chapter-thank you so much for your kind words! It really does mean the world to me!**

 **Thank you to my amazing beta, Sanctuaria! I couldn't continue this story without you!**

* * *

"What do you have?" Natasha questioned as soon as they walked into Tony's laboratory. They both crossed over to his desk.

"I looked into the guy that grabbed Kristina, and found that he met up with this guy hours before," Tony informed her, zooming in on the image on an older male.

Natasha felt her whole world stop for what seemed like hours, she stared at the face of the man who had caused her so much pain. She had hoped that he had died years ago, living this long while working for the KGB didn't seem likely-unfortunately, he managed to stay alive. And now, he was back, back in her life, back to mess up everything she had built since escaping his capture. She sighed deeply, her hands rested on the desk, "Great." She muttered sarcastically to herself. With a second look at the information Tony had found, feeling the temptation to sigh again, "Are you sure about this?"

"You know him?"

"Yes…"

"Natasha, they are trying to draw you out," Clint said cautiously as he walked up to them. "Why else would he let himself be photographed?"

Natasha felt her palms begin to sweat as her mind replayed the events of her youth at double speed.

"Who is he? I haven't found a match for him yet," Tony said, tapping away on his tablet as if he would be able to find the information.

Closing her eyes for a few moments, she answered with a strained voice, "Somebody I knew a long time ago-and if he's connected to everything that's happened." She glanced at Clint, her eyes flickering to his hand, "Then he knows about Kristina." Dread filled her as her past flashed through her mind again but instead of seeing herself, she saw Kristina. "If he wants to draw me out, I'll let him," She decided firmly.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Tasha," Clint spoke, his tone making it clear how he felt on this idea-which was completely against it.

Tony looked between them with a hint of confusion, an undertone of irritation at him not knowing what was going on, "You want to walk into a trap?" he asked.

"Yes, I do. Has he been spotted since then?" Natasha asked Tony, deciding to ignore Clint's protests.

"No, I'll run his face," he replied as he turned his focus to his tablet.

Natasha took it off him after a second and wrote down a series of names, "These are all of the names or aliases he used while I knew him. If he's trying to draw me out, he may be using one of them."

Tony nodded as he took the tablet back.

"Natasha, can we talk about this?" Clint asked as he indicated they leave the room to talk in privacy.

"I'll be back and ready to go in an hour, have a location for me," Natasha said as she stepped away from the desk slowly to make her way out of the laboratory.

"I'll call the team in,"

"No, not yet." Natasha said a little too quickly as she faced him for a moment. "We'll talk when I get back." She took a second look at the screen before following Clint out of the room. She followed him down the halls, knowing what he wanted, she doubted it would be his understand pre-mission advice version. Part of her knew that it would be his over-protective, trying to talk her out of it self, and she was sure he would try to tag along on the mission. Although, there was no chance that she would allow him to come with her, it was too dangerous and she refused to let there be even the slightest chance that Kristina lost both parents.

When he walked into one of Stark's smallest rooms, she closed the door behind her before turning to face him. "This is a bad idea, Tasha. You fought to get away from that madman, now you're going to walk straight back into his arms."

"I'm not walking straight back into his arms, Clint. I have no intention of letting him, or anybody, control my life," Natasha told his firmly, raising an eyebrow at him for insinuating that she would willingly go back to that man.

He noticed the light comparison, "I'm not trying to control your life… but, don't you remember what he did to you?"

"Of course I remember! It's seared into my mind, I'll never forget it! This is my choice, Clint, nothing you can say will talk me out of it," she told him firmly, maintaining direct eye contact with him.

"Fine, but I'm coming with you," Clint decided.

Natasha shook her words and barely had to mutter Kristina's name before his shoulders slumped in defeat. He had failed to talk her out of it and wasn't able to go with her, he had truly lost this battle. "Tash," he muttered softly, taking her hands in his and intertwining them.

She sighed, him just saying her name in that tone nearly made her second-guess her decision, it was more convincing than his defence. Although, she didn't waver, instead she stepped forward, went on her tiptoes and barely pressed her lips against his, "I'll be fine." She assured him gently, although, they both knew that there was no guarantee that she would be fine, even if she was physically fine at the end of it-they both knew there would be some mental damage. Afterall, that man was still making appearances in her nightmares and it had been over 12 years.

"Promise that you'll come back to me," Clint whispered, their lips touching lightly.

Natasha closed her eyes as she let the balls of her feet touch the ground and her head drop forward, "I can't." She whispered, hoping he wouldn't hear her. Although, she knew he did when his lips connected with her forehead and his arms wrapped around her petite body. "You keep an eye on Kristina, she's likely to wake up from a nightmare tonight… the attempted kidnapping did a number on her. Just hug and sing to her and she'll fall back to sleep."

"Don't worry about Kristina, just worry about keeping yourself alive and coming home," Clint said, rubbing her back up and down.

Natasha stepped back out of his embrace, "I need to get ready to leave." She informed him, looking up at him before turning to walk out of the room. His hand gently took hold of her wrist to stop her and she instinctively tensed, her whole body stiffened for a split second as she refrained from attacking him. It had been years since she reacted that way to Clint, she had only seen a picture of _him_ and it was already messing with her mind. She felt him release her immediately, he had obviously felt her resistance; she knew she could walk away right then and he wouldn't stop her. But a large part of her wanted him to stop her, wanted them to act like a normal couple- but she knew he wouldn't touch her again without her permission. There was a whole second when they were both completely still before she turned to face him, without hesitation she stepped forward, her hands coming to either side of his face as she tiptoed and kissed him deeply.

Clint responded instantly, one arm going around her waist and firmly pulled her towards him, the other arm was lightly rested on her upper back. He regained his confidence with her very quickly, his good arm hoisting her up so he could carry her. She wrapped her arms around his neck to assist him with holding her up, she didn't even look at where they were going, she simply trusted him.

It wasn't long until he was placing her onto an oversized couch in a room that Natasha did not recognise. Her arms never released him, if they weren't wrapped around his neck, then she was holding onto his arm or pulling him closer.

* * *

Natasha walked into her bedroom, after putting on her combat outfit and placed her towel down onto a chair. Kristina was peacefully sleeping, laying on her side with her mouth slightly open. She sat on the bed, moving a piece of Kristina's hair out of her eyes and kissing her forehead. She glanced up as Clint walked in, his hair still wet from the shower he just had, "Hey." She said softly before picking up a pad of paper and a pen.

"Hey, you look ready to go," Clint commented casually as he collected her towel and threw it back into the bathroom.

"I'm just writing a note for Kristina," she informed him as the pen glided across the paper. The words did not flow out naturally, but she used the knowledge from the research she did the day before to prepare herself for if she ever had to leave unexpectedly. Her eyes narrowed at the words when she completed it and held it out to Clint, "Does that sound alright?"

Clint walked over to her and took the letter, he read it and laughed softly, "That is so sappy, will she believe that you even wrote it?" he teased.

Natasha rolled her eyes with a smile on her face as she hit his chest hard with the back of her hand, "Jerk."

The loud sound must have disturbed Kristina because she started stirring, "Mom?" She muttered before sitting up, "Dad? What's going on?"

Natasha lost her smile as she turned to face her, "Hey Kris, I've got to go for a few days-"

"Where?"

"To visit an old acquaintance."

"Can I come?" Kristina questioned hopefully.

Natasha shook her head, "No." She responded simply before holding out her arms, "Give me a hug, I have to leave."

Kristina practically threw herself into Natasha's arms, holding her tightly, "Do you have to go?"

Natasha decided this time to not respond to her question, it would just be followed by more questions. After a minute she pulled back, "I love you, be good."

Kristina's lip pouted out and her eyes watered, "I don't want you to go… please stay."

Natasha took a breath and stood up, she leant down and gave Clint a quick kiss before walking straight out of the room, she glanced back and saw Clint holding Kristina back who had obviously attempted to run after her-she wished she hadn't looked back but she didn't stop and carried on making her way to Tony's laboratory.

Tony looked up as she walked in, "I got a hit on one of the aliases you gave me, he's staring at a motel not too far from here."

"A motel? That's low standards for him," Natasha commented, but she knew that they were more secluded and less likely to have somebody calling the cops if there was an argument. "What's the address?"

Tony handed a piece of paper with the address on it, "You sure you don't want me calling in the team?"

"I should have dealt with this years ago, I don't want to involve them until I know what he wants. But, can I have you on standby? In case I need backup or an immediate extraction?" Natasha asked him, looking directly at him. He gave her a firm nod and handed her a comm which she put straight into her ear.

"Stay in contact, if you go dark for too long, I'm coming," Tony informed her.

Natasha nodded, "Okay, keep an eye on Kristina and Clint for me."

Tony nodded, "I'm not letting her leave this place at all; I can only do my best to control him though."

Natasha smiled, "Good." She checked the address, "Is Steve's motorcycle still here?"

Tony smirked, "Yes, and he leaves the keys in the ignition."

"He's too trusting," Natasha commented as she walked out of his laboratory and went down to an underground parking lot. She paced around Steve's motorbike for a few moments before sitting on it, a smile graced her lips as she turned the key and zoomed off into the night.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading! Thank you for all that have favorited or followed this story! It means so much to me! If you wanted to see something, let me know, for example, more Clintasha, more Kristina, etc.**

 **If you have any suggestions of who I should cosplay as for MCM please let me know, I can't decide!**


	24. Chapter Twenty-three

**Author's note:**

 **A longer chapter for you all! I hope you like it! :D**

 **Thank you very much for the lovely reviews! They really keep me going! So thanks: Sanctuaria, Discordchick and Keara Park! :)**

* * *

Natasha arrived at the motel within minutes, she took her time to get off the motorbike and left her helmet on as she strutted up to the the front desk. "What room is Boris Turgenoy in?" she asked, putting on an Italian accent, she wanted to throw whomever was listening off scent.

"Are you Natalia?" The individual behind the desk questioned lazily, not even bothering to look up.

"I am."

"Here, he left this for you," He said, sliding an envelope towards her. "Have a nice day."

Natasha grabbed the envelope and walked back to the motorbike. She sat on it before opening the envelope and reading the letter, "Stark, change of location, track me." She told him before shoving the letter into her pocket and speeding off. The freedom of riding a motorbike or a bike in general had always captivated her, it was one of the only times she deluded herself into thinking she was free when she worked for the KGB. Of course, reality had always dragged her back down.

* * *

She pulled up to the warehouse after a ten minute ride; it was in a secluded area. After a moment's thought, she drove straight into the door-hearing the loud clang as they flew up from the force-and skidded the bike to a sudden spot only a few metres in. With a look around she noted three snipers on high ground and Boris seated in the middle of the room, not looking startled at her entrance.

"Natalia Romanova," He said in a crisp, thick Russian accent.

"Boris Turgenoy," she replied, also in a Russian accent; no hint of an American accent present.

"I am glad you got my message," Boris said casually as he lit a cigar, taking his time to drag out the first puff before blowing it out and standing up.

"Codeword is _Tony, I need you_ ," Tony told her.

Natasha stepped off the motorbike and faced him, her hands by her side and her helmet securely on her head, "What do you want?"

"To see you," he told her, the answer was simply and vague. Both of them knew it was a lie, if he had wanted to see her, he would have asked her to remove her helmet. "It's been a long time, мой ребенок."

Natasha eyes narrowed at what he called her, she wanted to attack him, but didn't move a muscle, "Not long enough."

Boris laughed, though it wasn't an innocent or friendly laugh, it was menacing, "You've gotten funny over time." He commented as he took a step towards her, "Готовы ли вы , чтобы вернуться домой?"

"I am home," Natasha replied confidently, not stepping back-that would be showing weakness. She stepped forward and walked passed him, her shoulder grazing his ever so slightly, "You haven't changed."

"You have," He replied with disgust. "What happened to Natalia?"

Natasha spun around gracefully to face him, a smirk playing on her lips, "You destroyed Natalia-she's gone forever."

Boris looked at her, actually looking pissed; she had never been able to get a reaction out of him when she was under his control, she was too afraid. But now, he had nothing over her, he did not have the power and it was obviously getting to him, "I look forward to destroying your little girl-does she have a name?"

Natasha's eyes flashed red, but she didn't move instantly, her eyes doing a quick sweep of her surroundings once again. She kicked the chair he had recently vacated at him, pulling out two guns, one in each hand, shooting two of the snipers who were high up. With a bend of her left leg she rolled to the side, shooting the third sniper at the top before twisting and taking out the fourth and final man who was only a few metres from her, with a double shot to the head. Her head turned to face Boris, who was unharmed by the chair, as she stood up, putting her guns away. "What do you want?" She repeated more firmly.

"I have a job for you,"

Natasha walked over to him, "I'm busy." She rejected his offer and walked over to the motorbike.

Boris grabbed her arm, and they stared at each other, both aware of what the other could had been her 'partner' for many years and taught her a lot of what she knew once graduating from the Red Room. "This isn't negotiable."

"I don't take orders any more, especially from you-I should have killed you back in Russia," Natasha growled, jerking her arm out of his grip.

Boris tilted his head, "But you didn't. If you complete the job, I'll leave your precious daughter alone." He said, pulling an envelope out of his pocket and placing it on the motorbike. "Except for the hair, she looks exactly like you at that age. I could have fun with her."

Natasha swung at him, hitting him across the face and then knocking him down to the ground. She felt herself get pulled down and smashed onto the concrete shoulder-first. That didn't stop her. She pushed herself up, wrapping her legs around his neck, throwing him to the floor. There wasn't the usual snap of the neck that she was used to-he had moved into it. They fought for a few more minutes, which ended with him receiving a broken arm and a shot to the abdomen and her receiving a nasty gash across her thigh from a knife.

They broke apart, even though she could finish him off, she knew there were others who could carry out the threat against Kristina, "You have 23 hours." He told her.

Natasha saw movement outside of the warehouse, and slid over to the motorbike, she shoved the envelope into her pocket, jumped on and rode off-she heard the usual pop of the guns as she left; but ignored them.

"Tony, book me a nearby hotel, give me directions," Natasha spoke, hoping that Tony hadn't fallen asleep.

"Go straight… right third exit," Tony replied after a few seconds. "Are you injured?"

"No." She lied as she turned right.

"Left, first exit, straight up to the end, right and the hotel is halfway down that road-just confirming your reservation now," Tony told her, seemingly to drop the questions; for now.

Natasha parked the motorbike, she discreetly checked her leg and was relieved that the black clothes covered up the blood nicely-but didn't help the pain. It wasn't the worst wound she had gotten and knew she could last longer. "I'm here." She informed him before opening the seat and looking to see what Steve had stashed there, she pulled the bag out, hoping there would be something useful for her to use.

"Reservation under Natalie Rushman," Tony told her.

Natasha rolled her eyes, he did not expect her to use one of her aliases, most people knew who she was, just like they did Tony. It wasn't like she was in a disguise, "What's wrong with my own name?"

"Thought you would want to keep the media away from you."

"They've never bothered me, I never usually walk out the front door anyway," Natasha uttered casually as she walked-mostly without a limp-into the hotel, she left her helmet on and noticed a few strange looks. "Natalie Rushman, I have a reservation."

"Of course, Mrs Rushman. Room 108," the receptionist said, handing over the key. "Will that be all?"

"Yes." Natasha took the key and headed straight up to her room, she decided to use the stairs-realising half way up that she probably should have used the elevator to rest her leg. The corridor was empty as she walked down it and into her room.

A sigh left her as she dropped Steve's bag onto the bed and opened it, she rummaged through it, "Seriously, no medical supplied-stupid super soldier." She grabbed one of his t-shirts, his socks and a second pair of his socks-to use as a bandage. Who packs two pairs of socks? She then made her way to the bathroom. And sighed when Tony began talking.

"Natasha, you're not going to do that job, are you?" he asked her.

"Tony, the only thing I am going to do right now is take a shower. I'll call you later," she told him truthfully, taking the comms out of her ear and throwing it onto the bed from the bathroom. She then shut the door.

Being alone in the room, with no prying eyes or ear, she hit the shower on, unpeeled her suit from her body and stepped into the shower-her adrenaline was fading quickly and she slid down to sit in the tub. Without her suit masking the sight of blood, now she could clearly see how much she was bleeding, she grabbed one of the flannels and pressed it against her thigh. Maybe she should have returned to Stark's tower. She shook that thought out of her and noticed a small graze on her lower leg, she looked at it astounded. "How did I get that?" she muttered to herself.

* * *

Natasha turned away from the camera as she walked passed, she ducked into a room for exactly four seconds before the fire alarm went off. She slipped out her gun in her left hand and rotated her right before stepping out and twisting a politician's arm behind his back and jamming the gun into his side. "This way," she muttered darkly as she forced him to walk out of a different side exit and into the boot of the car she had apprehended-how did she expect to kidnap anybody with a motorbike?

She smoothly slid into the car before speeding off to an arranged location, she lifted her phone, dialed and pressed it to her ear, "I'm on my way, is everything set up?" She waited for a response. "Great," she said rolling her eyes before hanging up, throwing her phone onto the passenger seat.

She drove into a garage of an abandoned building and got out of the car. With a glance around she stepped around the car and opened the boot, physically pulling the male politician out of the car, "Please don't kill me, please! I have a wife and two-"

"Shut up," Natasha growled, grabbing a random cloth from the side and shoving it into his throat. He attempted to spit it out. She directed him through the building before pushing him down to the ground, "Strip."

The politician looked up at her with wide, fearful eyes, "What?"

* * *

Natasha angled the camera to capture the top half of the politician's body, his clothes were crumpled up and dirty-they looked like they were thrown on. With a few minutes of hacking, she finally came face to face with Boris.

"You took your time, lost your touch Natalia?" He questioned patronising her.

"You wish," Natasha replied darkly. She lifted her gun and shot the politician in the chest. "Stay away from my family."

Boris laughed and the screen went blank. Natasha switched off the camera, unplugging it completely before walking over to the slumped over body. She pushed him upright with one hand and removed the fake mask which she had last used right before S.H.I.E.L.D. had fell-to reveal a very scarred face. "Thank you, Wade."

Wade opened his eyes and smiled, "That's okay-but this was not what I expected when you said you wanted to shoot a politician." They both looked over to the real and very much alive politician cowering in the corner in just his briefs. "And call me Deadpool-I don't have an awesome alterego name for nothing."

Natasha rolled her eyes, "Noted."

Wade pulled out his mask from his pocket and slipped it on, "This was fun."

"The fun hasn't begun yet," Natasha reminded him. "Let me just drop this one off, change, and I'll meet you there."

* * *

Natasha parked the car in Tony's underground parking structure and got out, she checked the time and decided to head up for a bit. As she paced around to the trunk of the car, she wondered who would the best person to ask to dress her wound. Clint might make an issue over it; Kristina would probably freak; Tony… but that would involve him seeing her upper leg-that prospect was just distasteful. As she opened the trunk, she decided to do it herself, less hassle. "Come on big guy, we're going for a walk."

She leant forward and grabbed his arm, he was mostly following her instructions without complaint now-the tape across his mouth and tying his wrists together may have contributed to that. Natasha kept a hold of his bare arm-Deadpool refused to give his clothes back, so he was still just in his briefs-and matched him into the envelope. "I am sure somebody will have clothes for you." She said with a nonchalant shrug, not mentioning that she could have given him Steve's clothes. Pressing her hand against his upper back, she pushed him forward and she cracked a smile at the shocked and disgusted looks of Tony and Clint.

"Uhm… who's your friend?" Clint asked.

"Mom!" Kristina exclaimed, jumping over the couch and over to her, throwing her arms around her.

Natasha gave her a one handed hug and pushed the politician forward, "Go take a seat. If you move, I'll shoot you." The politician looked torn, walking to the couch involved moving, but he walked over there with his head held high and sat down.

"Does she usually bring half naked men home with her?" Tony asked.

"I wish I could say this was the first time," Clint replied. "But it's never been a politician."

"He can't leave, because he's dead," Natasha said calmly, she saw her daughter expression change to one of horror. "Oh not really dead, it's a game." Her phone suddenly went off, she pulled it out and answered it immediately letting go of Kristina, "Alexi, thanks for calling me back."

"Whose Alexi?" Kristina questions.

"Shush," Natasha said, walking away from them.

"I'll always call you back, Nat. Who was that in the background?" The man on the other end of the phone asked her.

"Just a friend's kid," she answered before looking over her shoulder, she saw Clint standing a few metres away from her with a frown plastered on his face-he'd heard her. "Do you have any information?"

"Yes, I can kill a target that will cause him the most pain within the hour," he replied proudly.

"No-I just need her threatened. Could you get me a picture of the target sleeping, or in a place that should be secure?" She asked him, hoping that he didn't kill them anyway.

There was silence over the phone for a moment before he agreed, "Of course. When this is all cleared up on your end, we should talk."

"There's nothing to talk about."

"You are my wife…"

"I am not your-" Natasha walked further away from Clint-who was following her. "You are officially deceased, Alexi, which voids that particular contract."

"Nat, I-"

"Don't call me that," Natasha interjected quickly.

She heard him sigh, but drop the subject, "I'll send you the pictures within the hour."

Natasha ended the call and looked at Clint, "I'm going to change, I haven't finished the mission." She told him before walking off, she stopped herself from sighing when she heard his footsteps following her.

Even though Clint didn't directly ask her about who was on the call, she could tell his interest was peaked and he wanted to know. She unzipped her suit as he pushed the door closed behind him, "It was just one of my contacts in Russia."

"You have a contact in Russia?" He asked casually.

Natasha pushed the suit down, deciding that she'd rather him fussing over her injury than questioning her about the call-after all, telling him that she had been married before she knew him wasn't a conversation that could be done in a few minutes. "Yes," she said quietly, answering his question before stepping out of the suit completely. "Where's the first aid kit?"

Clint's eyes flashed down to her thigh before he went into the wardrobe and pulled one out. He turned back and sent her a confused look, "Is that a sock?"

Natasha shrugged slightly as she sat on the bed and started taking off the sock-which had mostly turned red-to reveal the gash, "It's not that bad."

"Sure, if you don't mind bleeding to death," Clint agreed sarcastically as he knelt down and pressed a clean bandage against it. "It's still bleeding," he commented.

"Just tape it up, I need to get back out there," Natasha told him.

Clint looked up for a second as he increased the pressure on her wound, trying to stop the blood-it's wasn't that much blood, she had received wounds a lot worse; but she didn't want to bleed as that meant leaving DNA. "You should call Doctor Cho, 5 minutes on her machine and you'll be good as new."

"I don't have time for that,"

Clint pressed a different bandage against her leg and wrapped it up tightly, he taped over it slightly. "You may have to make time-where did you get that graze?"

Natasha looked down at her lower leg, "Just a small firefight earlier today, must have caught it when I rolled-why?"

Clint touched the skin gently, "Because it looks more like a burn graze." He told her as he pulled out his phone and took a picture before looking up at her, "Keep an eye on it."

With a roll of her eyes, she stood up, "A graze on my leg is the least of my worries, Clint." She collected a clean, black suit and slipped it on. Her thigh was feeling a lot better now that it was wrapped properly, but it still stung. "I'll see you later, I'm already late-Don't let Gary Polin out of this place; nobody can know he's still alive."

"That's the half-naked guy right?" Clint asked.

Natasha nodded before walking off, she decided against saying goodbye to Kristina; she'd rather face the consequences later than be even later and letting Deadpool have all the fun-he wasn't one for waiting.

* * *

 **A.N: A lot of the added information (such as Nat's husband) are actually in the comics, which I've decided to add in! I like using the comics, it keeps is as canon as possible!**

 **Let me know what you think!**


	25. Chapter Twenty-four

**Author's note:**

 **Hello there! So, MCM Comic Con was amazing and it gave me more motivation to write! Which means this chapter is within a week! Yay!**

 **Thank you so much to my lovely reviewers, I received FOUR and it made me so incredibly happy! You guys really helped with the motivation too: Sanctuaria, BookLuv, discordchick and keara park. Thank you!**

 **Without further ado!**

* * *

Natasha took the long trek to where she was meeting Deadpool; they had 'released' the individual who had attempted to kidnap Kristina a few days ago. They were tracking him and he was stupid-enough to go straight to his main base. She crouched down as she got to the location and rolled her eyes when she saw Deadpool taking a nap, she whacked his leg.

Deadpool sat up, "About time, I thought I was going to have to start this party without you." He pulled out two guns, checking them before putting them away, "Ready to rock and roll?"

"You were supposed to be doing surveillance on the place-not napping. Do you even know how many people are in there?" Natasha questioned.

He shrugged, "I like a surprise."

"You like a surprise?" Natasha repeated, her eyebrows furrowed together.

Deadpool tilted his head as he sat up, "Yeah! What's the point in knowing what you're going to walk into? It's like going to a party, you don't want to do the same thing every time! If that was the case, I'd be sober."

Natasha sighed, maybe working with a guy known as the 'merc with the mouth' wasn't the best idea. "They guy who we tracked here… I want to kill him." She informed him deciding to get back to the mission, "Ready?"

"Why?"

"What?"

"Why do you want to kill that guy?" He asked her.

"Because he tried kidnapping my kid," Natasha replied. "Now, let's go." She said standing up and making her way into the building; it was too quiet for her liking, but that changed quickly as the door in front of her opened to reveal a male in his fifties-he didn't seem to realise she was there. When he looked up, a state of shock appeared on his face as he quickly pulled out a gun.

Natasha knew it would be easier to simply pull out her gun and shoot him in the head, but instead she waited patiently for the gun to be pointed at her before kicking it out of his hand with her leg, "That the best you've got?" she challenged.

"What do you want?" the male asked.

"Your group kidnapped and tortured my…" she stopped for a second, wondering what Clint was to her. "Partner and attempted to kidnap my daughter."

The man shifted awkwardly for a moment before glaring at her, "Yeah, and we'd do it again-but this time, we'd kill them both!"

"Those are your last words," Natasha informed him before jumping and kicking him in the mouth. She heard the crack of his jaw before breaking his neck and stepping over him, there shouldn't be more than seven people here. Six now. She made her way to circle the main room, wanting to make sure none of them got away-she didn't feel like having to hunt down and kill them.

Pulling out a knife as she heard footsteps as she neared the end of her circle, she ducked into the room and embedded her knife in the upper leg of a male, checked his face and then snapped his neck too. She pulled the knife out of his leg, wiped his on his top before walking into the main room. She noted that deadpool was having fun fighting against one male, having killed two already. Her eyes left him and to the male who was hanging upside down in the middle of the room-it was him; the one who dared to even talk to her daughter.

Deadpool kicked the male in the stomach, sending him backwards with force against the wall and looked at her, "I got him for you; free of charge!" He bent down into a bow before turning and jumping on the final man.

"That makes six, double check that there's no more," Natasha ordered as she approached the male she noticed how he was unharmed, with blood rushing to his head. He was only tied up by one leg. "Any last words?"

"You're making a mistake, my employer will kill you,"

Natasha bent down, so that their heads were level, "Your employer can try, but he'll fail. I've known him for a long time, you've known him for a week."

"Three weeks."

"You're more stupid than I could imagine," Natasha commented as she stood and stabbed him in the stomach. It wasn't a serious wound as she didn't want to give him a quick death. Kristina had bruises on her arm-that was unacceptable. She took a step back and threw the knife up, successfully cutting the rope with one throw.

He fell to the ground with a thud, he landed on his head and Natasha was worried for a second that he broke his neck. But then he moved. A smile made its way to her lips as he kicked him onto his back, pulled out her gun and fired. She bent down and grabbed his hair, making him look at her, "Did that hurt?" she asked him sweetly.

"Bitch."

Natasha held onto his short hair more firmly as her other digged into his leg and retrieved the bullet, "Don't want to waste a bullet on _you._ "

"You going to bore me to death with your talking?" He spat.

"I was going to gouge out your eyes and force feed you them, but your idea could work," she mused before pulling out her knife. When his hand moved, she grabbed it and twisted it painfully until he was on his stomach with his arm pinned behind him. She noted that Deadpool had killed the male he was fighting and was currently out of the room. As she stroked her knife down his back, she felt her phone buzz and pulled it out, a frown made it's way to her face as she rejected the call. With one swift movement, she dropped his arm, pulled out her gun and shot him in the head before pulling out her phone and took pictures of the now deceased men.

"There's nobody else here," Deadpool informed her as he walked back in, swinging a sword in his hand. "You killed him rather quickly, I would have tortured him for hours if he touched my daughter."

Natasha looked at him, she was trying to work out if that was a general comment or if he was talking about having a daughter, "The longer I'm here, the less time I am with my daughter."

"How old is she?" Deadpool inquired as they both walked from the room.

Natasha wasn't sure why he was suddenly interested in a conversation, he didn't seem like the type, but answered anyway, "Ten."

"We should set up a playdate, my little girl is eight, and there's not many people I trust to hang out with her," Deadpool informed her casually.

She looked up at him, "Sure, we'll probably be in New York a while, staying at Stark's Tower."

"Great, Tuesday? I'll drop her off," he replied, actually making the plans. She nodded in agreement, not really believing that it would happen, but Kristina having a friend whose Dad would be willing to kill somebody if they tried to hurt them, would be handy. Natasha was pretty bored of doing background checks and surveillance on every person Kristina comes in contact with.

They both separated not long after that, both with different destinations, unfortunately, Natasha's destination wasn't Stark's Tower-although, she wished it was. But she still had business to take care of.

She slid out her phone and called Alexi back as she made her way down the street, she could have easily gotten picked up, but she didn't want to involve anybody she cared about. Unfortunately, most of the people she worked with currently, she cared of; and she hated that. Which is why she brought Deadpool in, in the first place.

"Hello," Alexi answered after a few rings.

"It's Natasha, have you got what I need?" she asked.

"I do, I can be live in a few minutes if you want," he offered.

Natasha stopped for a moment, "Live?" she asked him before walking at a quicker pace.

"Yes, I think live footage will get him off your back quicker than a photo; let me know when you're ready and I'll give you the web address."

"Okay, give me ten," she said before hanging up and setting off in a jog.

* * *

It only took her five minutes for her to get to one of the undercover apartments she maintains for emergencies-she was planning on selling this one anyway. Then a further two minutes to set everything up, she dropped Alexi a text and upon receiving the web address, opened it up ready.

Then, she called Boris.

"I knew you couldn't stay away," Boris greeted, the smirk on his face evident through his voice.

"I have a something for you, turn on your laptop," Natasha ordered. She stared at her screen until his came active, then quickly hacked it, turned on his camera and her camera, She hung up, "This is something I should say face-to-face."

"You ready to come back?"

"I didn't kill that politician," Natasha revealed with a smirk and his face fell. "I did kill these people though…" she started before holding her phone to the camera and flicking through the pictures. "You sent people after the people I care about. That will stop right now, if you ever even consider hurting them, there will be consequences."

Boris scoffed, "You've gone soft if you think I cared about them, you just saved me a couple thousand dollars!"

Natasha was almost offended with how little he appeared to have to pay, but didn't let it show, "If you come after the people I care about, I'll come after the people you care about." She saw him smirk, but before he was able to reply, she turned of her camera and showed him who Alexi was holding. She could see his expression changed instantly.

"Don't you dare touch-"

"This is your _only_ warning," Natasha threatened before turning all of the camera's off. She instantly unplugged and took the battery out of her laptop and called Alexi. "Let them go, but keep an eye on them for a few weeks."

"I will, as an apology for what happened," Alexi said. "Can we meet?"

"I don't have time to come to Russia," Natasha answered as she stood up and prepared to leave. "I will contact you if I need a current location on them, but apart from that, our contact with each other is over."

"Natalia… Natasha, please, you have to understand why I faked my death. It was an order, I had no choice," Alexi pleaded.

Natasha knew she was the only one who knew this side of Alexi and it appeared that he was still the same guy she knew, even though everybody else things he's changed. "There is always a choice. But nothing can happen between us. We ended when you faked your death, when I mourned my husband. I've moved on, Alexi."

"Moved on? Are you married?" He asked, a hurt strain to his voice.

"No. But I'm with… I have a daughter. A little girl," Natasha informed him. She had trusted Alexi with her life, with her heart a long time ago and hoped she didn't regret trusting him with this piece of information. However, she knew that if she didn't tell him, he'd probably find out soon.

"Congratulations," Alexi replied after a long silence. "If you or your daughter need anything… you'll always be my wife, even if I am not your husband. Прощай моя любовь."

"До свидания, Alexi. Я надеюсь, что вы найдете свой кусок," she replied before hanging up the phone. Saying goodbye to him was harder than she wanted to believe, but she removed the battery from her phone and destroyed it anyway. He had no way of contacting her. Although, if she was honest with herself, she knew that he would be able to contact her if he really wanted to.

She had discovered he was alive when he turned up on one of her solo missions, he had somehow tracked her down after hearing about a threat against her. Of course, she was about to go straight into a trap, but that didn't change the fact that he just turned up without warning. It had been thirteen years since he had died, thirteen years in which he could have told her he was alive.

Natasha knew that her life would have been very different if he hadn't fakes his death or if she had discovered he was alive within the first two years she believed he was dead. Because, a week after his two year anniversary of death, she met Clint, left KGB and joined S.H.I.E.L.D. If she knew he was alive, she wouldn't have even considered it.

* * *

Natasha's eyes were closed as she slept lightly, she felt somebody move her arm and pulled out her gun pointing it directly at them as her eyes opened. The glare on her face instead disappeared when she realised it was just Clint and she put her gun away before unwrapping her other arm from around Kristina to allow Clint to pick her up. She watched as Clint carried Kristina out of the room, obviously to put her to bed.

She stifled a yawn as she sat up fully, she couldn't remember the exact moment she had fallen asleep, but noted that the movie she had been watching with Kristina had ended.

A few minutes later, Clint walked back in and sat next to her, "You seem a lot more relaxed than I expected."

Natasha looked up at him, "I sorted out the problem, we won't be getting any visitors from Boris."

"How did you manage that?" Clint asked curiously.

"I discovered that he had somebody that he cared for, used it against him," she replied easily, no remorse at all in her actions of resorting to the same thing he did.

Clint nodded, not against her decision either, "How did you manage to find them?"

"I have a contact in Russia…"

"Ah, yes. Alexi… the person you told that Kristina was a friend's kid," Clint said, obviously not happy about her saying that.

"You're my friend, and she's your child, I did not lie," Natasha defended slightly, not wanting to be called out on denying Kristina as her own child at the instance.

"I think I'm more than just your friend, Natasha," Clint observed, not accepting her response.

Natasha took a breath, she had thought about telling Clint about Alexi since discovering he was alive two years ago, but hadn't-it had never come up. But, she couldn't deny that they were talking about him and that he had come up. It didn't matter what she wanted, he deserved to know. "I didn't tell him about Kristina at the time because I needed him focused on the mission-it would have just rattled with his brain."

Clint offered her a confused look, he thankfully didn't say anything, but his look showed he wanted an explanation.

"I told him after the mission was completed," she informed him, she thought of the best way to reveal this bit of information but he was still going to react in the same way. "When I worked for the KGB, I got married… I thought he had died a couple of years later, but he hadn't-"

"You married Alexi?"

"Yes… and technically, we never got a divorce, because he's dead. Officially, we're not married anymore," she attempted to explain, however, it sounded like a pathetic excuse and explanation-one that she wouldn't even expect. Hopefully, Clint was not like her in this instance. She watched him carefully, dreading his reaction.

 _To be continued_.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading! So, I want to know what YOU want to happen. How do you think Clint will react? How would you react? Let me know! Thanks!**


	26. Chapter Twenty-five

**Author's Note:**

 **Here's an update! Hopefully I didn't make you all wait too long. And I just want you to know, I haven't forgotten about Kate.**

 **Thank you to the amazing five individual's who reviewed my last chapter: The Gothic Geek; Sanctuaria; discordchick; It'sOkayI'mAnAvenger; keara park.**

 **Let's get straight to it, I hope you like this chapter!**

* * *

Natasha sat up in the bed, glancing at the time she noted that it was just after four A.M; Seven hours since she told Clint who Alexi really was. A sigh left her as she glanced at the empty bed beside her before slipping out of it, in search for her partner. She passed Kristina's room and noticed a figure moving in the room, with one swift movement she pushed the door open, her eyes analysing everything. All she accomplished was making Kristina jump at the action.

"Why aren't you asleep?" Natasha asked her confused.

Kristina shrugged, "I had a nightmare."

"Come on, I'll tuck you in-nobody can get you in here," Natasha promised her softly as she guided her back to the bed.

Kristina hopped on and let Natasha slid the covers over her, "Will you stay with me? I know I'm safe with you."

Natasha mentally debated it before nodding, "Slide over." She slipped in beside Kristina and pulled the covers over the both of them before hugging her. It only took a minute before Kristina had fallen back to sleep and Natasha allowed herself to go to sleep after ten.

Unfortunately her sleep was not as long as she would have liked when her eyes sprung open and landed on the figure walking into the room. He left as quickly as he came.

Natasha quickly and gently slid out of the bed, making sure not to disturb Kristina before going after him, "Clint." He ignored her as he went down the stairwell. "Clint!" She called again before jumping over the ballester and landing in front of him-he hadn't tried that hard to get away. "You can't just ignore me."

Clint shrugged carelessly, "What do you want from me, Nat?" He asked her simply, leaning against the wall with a bored and closed off expression.

Natasha knew it was hypocritical of her to want him to talk, to tell her how he felt and what he wanted to do, when she barely showed her feelings on demand. "I just want to know where we stand," she told him, a bit deflated. She was regretting telling him already. When she had first met him, she had no intention to tell him anything about her or her past. They had slowly got closer, he told her about him and she told him about her. Their connection grew and grew quickly and within only a few years of meeting she couldn't believe how lucky she felt at that moment-at that time she wanted to tell him everything. But there was a lot to tell, but she started, he knew more than most people… and then she fell pregnant. That brought back painful memories and she realised that nothing good lasts, she avoided him during the pregnancy and when she actually gave birth to a healthy baby girl, she was beyond shocked. She had actually been expecting the baby to be stillborn like her first child; and still, she convinced him to give her up. Then they avoided each other and since then, she never truly opened up to him again-she knew it was her fault, but too much had happened and everything left unsaid was now lies and secrets.

When she found out that Alexi was alive two years ago, there was an array of mixed emotions: she was angry, upset, disappointed, shocked, and happy. For a few moments, she was happy, happy that her husband was alive. But that had faded quickly, because she had moved on, but she couldn't pretend that she didn't still love him; he was her husband and had at one point in her life wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. However, that was a long time ago and she couldn't pretend to be the same person-she had grieved his death and moved on. Even though Alexi will always hold a piece of her heart, beside Clint, he was no match. Without Clint, Natasha would be lost; she loved him and in a way he meant more to her then Alexi ever did. Clint made her feel whole, he was her home. For fear of jeopardising anything she had with Clint at the time, she cut ties with Alexi, barely telling him anything about her current life.

Her expression did not change as she looked at Clint and waited for his response, maybe keeping her feelings in right now wasn't the best choice, but she couldn't help it.

"I don't know," he replied with another shrug, he appeared to be looking straight through her.

"Clint, please…" Natasha pleaded, she took a quick breath. "I just want to work this out," she said, her voice more stable.

"I'm still trying to work out how I feel about this; I can't work us out right now," Clint said, dismissing the situation.

"Please, can we just talk?" Natasha pleaded, wanting to explain herself in anyway she can. She needed him to understand that it didn't change anything between them.

"Is there anything else about you that I don't know?" Clint asked her.

Natasha hesitated but answered as his eyes began to roll, "Yes… but it's in the past, Clint. You and Kristina, you are the now." She insisted, her voice couldn't work out if it wanted to express emotion or not.

"What else don't I know?" he questioned.

"Clint…"

"What else don't I know?" he repeated more firmly.

Natasha's mouth was set in a line, she wasn't going to answer him when he was acting in this way, she wanted to shout out everything he didn't know, everything she remembered, everything she knew about herself-but she didn't want to do it this way. So instead, she ended up glaring at him until he shook his head and walked off and for the second time since she told him, she let him leave.

She turned after a few minutes and wandered back up the stairs.

* * *

Two days later, Clint and Natasha hadn't said a word to each other, they had barely even occupied the same room for more than a minute at a time. Unfortunately, Kristina had noticed and decided to question it.

"Mom," Kristina started as she sat down on the couch beside Natasha as she placed a pizza box down. "Why aren't you and Dad talking?"

Natasha glanced the pizza box before looking at her, "What makes you think we're not talking?" she asked, it seemed like she needed to work harder on keeping Kristina out of the situation.

"Well, Dad asked me to give you the pizza, when I asked why, he said he was busy-but he's just eating… we all used to eat together," Kristina informed her with a hint of sadness in her voice as she looked down. "Did I do something?"

Natasha's eyes widened slightly, "What? No, you haven't done anything wrong, Kris." She sighed, "Your father and I are just working something out, that's all." She ran a hand down her back, "You are perfect."

Kristina smiled, although it wasn't completely genuine, "Okay."

"I'll talk to him later," Natasha promised, hoping she didn't regret her words. "Now, what did you want to do today?"

Kristina opened her mouth to reply, but was suddenly cut off when there was an alarm. "What's that?" she asked alarmed, shifting closer to Natasha.

Natasha slung one arm around Kristina and pulled out her gun, "It's probably just Tony testing the alarms."

Speaking of Tony, he flew into the room in his Iron Man suit, "Intruder alert-get her out of here!"

Natasha stood up, pulling Kristina up with her as the window smashed opened and Deadpool-in his official suit-came flying in and landed on the ground. He opened his arms, "I'm here!"

"Don't shoot, he's my guest," Natasha sighed, keeping Kristina behind her.

"You know this lunatic?" Tony questioned, not lowering his arm, ready to shoot.

"It's Mr Lunatic to you," Deadpool replied.

"This is supposed to be a playdate, where's your daughter?" Natasha asked, dreading the answer.

Deadpool paced over to the elevator and held his arms out dramatically, after a second of nothing happening, he tried again. "Sorry, that usually works." The doors opened and he quickly threw his arms out, "I present my daughter."

A young girl girl was stood there, her thick, curly, black hair was in two bunches, her dark brown eyes wide with innocence and confusion. She stepped out of the elevator.

"Why couldn't you just come up with your daughter?" Natasha asked.

Deadpool shook his head, "Absolutely not, I had to come in with style!" He then looked down, "and we all know you don't take a little girl up the side of a building with you."

Natasha nodded in agreement and noticed that Tony had put his arm down.

He bent down to his daughter, tickling her side lightly, "Have fun, I'll pick you up in a few hours." They hugged before nudged her out of the elevator and left.

There was an awkward silence for a moment, nobody, including Natasha expected Deadpool to drop off a child and then leave-even though Natasha had technically agreed to it. She nudged Kristina forward slightly.

Kristina stepped forward before skipping over to her, "Hey! I'm Kristina."

"Ellie."

"Do you want some pizza?" She asked with a wide smile on her face.

Ellie nodded, "Sure."

"Great! My Dad ordered like a thousand boxes!" Kristina informed the other girl before grabbing her hand and leading her out of the room.

Natasha looked at Tony, who was still waiting for an explanation, "I set up a play-date for Kristina." She told him simply before walking off.

* * *

Natasha walked into the room which was occupied by Clint, he was lazing on a chair watching the TV. "We need to talk," she said instantly grabbing the control and muting the program.

Clint's eyes didn't move from the TV, "What is there to talk about?"

"How about our daughter?" Natasha suggested sarcastically. She sighed and switched the TV off when she realised he was just reading their lips.

He glared at her, "What about Kristina?"

"She knows something is up…"

"And?"

"Are you even listening to yourself right now?" Natasha almost growled out at his lack of concern.

Clint sat up straight, "I don't like lying to her; we should just tell her that we're going through something, she'll understand."

"That _is_ what I told her," Natasha told him. Moron. "But she looked devastated, I thought she was going to cry for a second. We need to sort this out for her."

"Why don't we just tell her the truth?" Clint suggested before taking a sip of some water. "Maybe we should tell her that you are actually married to somebody else."

Natasha sighed, "Clint, it means nothing to me-technically we're not even married anymore. I told you because I didn't want to lie to you."

"What I don't understand is why you didn't tell me earlier? We've known each other for over a decade, why'd you wait?" Clint asked.

"Because it was in my past, it didn't affect my current life, my life with _you_ ," Natasha answered. "I found out he was actually alive two years ago, and it just never came up until now."

Clint shook his head, "I always thought that you were the type of woman who just didn't want to get married, Tasha. You turned down my proposals, and I accepted it-it never changed our dynamic. I figured you just didn't want to get married- now I know it's because you already _are_ married…"

"No, that's not why… I…" Natasha let out a long breath. "Yes, because of my previous marriage I learnt that people in our business cannot get married. It only ends in heartache… the closer you get the more it hurts when your heart is ripped it when it fails or the other person dies."

The silence built between them for a few long moments before Clint finally broke it, "How am I supposed to repair your heart, when I don't know how broken it really is?"

"My heart isn't broken," Natasha defended instantly.

"I am pissed that you kept this from me… and even though you say it's not a big deal, you didn't even tell me that you had been married when you thought he was dead. And then, you waited two years of knowing he was actually alive-and I know the only reason you told me was because I questioned the phone call. I don't even know if you would have actually told me… it makes me wonder what things about you I still don't know."

Natasha looked down, "I want to tell you everything." She said softly, "But what if it's too much for you? I thought you were going to leave when I told you about Alexi, you walked off and didn't come to bed."

"I won't walk off, but I will have to declare that this would be your last chance… if I find out you left something big like this out at a later date… I don't think I could forgive it again," Clint admitted.

Natasha nodded, she had far too many chances with Clint, he had been a lot kinder to her then anybody should be. Half the time, she treated him like crap, and she felt like she had lied to him more than she had told him the truth. But now he wanted the complete truth, every detail, and she was finally willing to give it to him. "Okay, but not here. It will take a while," she admitted.

"When things settle down, we'll go away for a weekend, just you and I. We'll clear the air then," Clint suggested. Natasha nodded in agreement as silence fell between them again.

* * *

Shortly after Kristina had guided Ellie to get pizza from her Dad, they ended up exploring the tower together-after promising not to leave. "Wanna go to the roof?" Kristina asked.

"Only if we can race," Ellie replied with a smile.

Kristina grinned, "Sure, the staircase is this way." She said as they began walking, not yet racing, "So the person who dropped you off, that was your Dad?"

Ellie nodded, "Yes." she replied shortly.

"Why was he wearing the red and black suit? He looked like spiderman," Kristina carried on talking, not noticing that Ellie had become a little uncomfortable.

"Well… he… he's a superhero," Ellie replied unsure.

Kristina grinned at her, "Really? My parents are too! Maybe that's how they know each other." She theorised with a smile, the thought of being friends with another superhero's daughter was so exciting.

Ellie grinned, her lips curving upwards, "Yeah! Probably."

"Okay, we're here," Kristina said and they both got ready. "3…"

"2…"

"Go!"

They both ran up the stairs as quickly as they could, Ellie had a better start but was very quickly overtaken by Kristina who was ultimately faster and did not tire as quickly. She glanced back to see Ellie lacking behind quite a bit and slowed down, she stopped at the next floor and took some deep breaths. "How about we call it a draw?" She suggested when Ellie caught up with her.

Ellie nodded as she took slightly deeper breathes. They only managed a few floors, but didn't continue up. "What floor are we on?"

Kristina shrugged, "Not sure, let's investigate… like we're superheroes or… the FBI!"

"Okay!" Ellie agreed eagerly as they both pretended to be holding guns and pressed themselves against opposite walls as they went down the hall.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Kristina and Ellie had officially decided to be best friends, "We should move in together when we're older!"

Ellie's eyes lightened up, "That would be so cool! We can have a dog too!"

"Yeah!" Kristina agreed happily as she led them down the hallway, she wasn't going to admit that she was lost. "We can have a climbing frame in the living room!"

"Yeah! And a climbing wall too… with a swimming pool at the bottom," Ellie added with a laugh.

"And we can jump from the top into it!" Kristina grinned, she came to a stop and looked around, "This way."

"Ooh, and there can be a moving maze to get to my Dad's room, so it doesn't get boring for him," Ellie suggested.

"That's a good idea, my parents would have to… hit ten targets in under a minute or sing a song, my Mom has sung a few times and she's so good," Kristina gloats.

"Really? What does she sing?"

"No idea, she sings in Russian," Kristina admitted with a shrug. "I know what we should do for your Dad, have a room without a door, he doesn't seem to use them anyway!"

"Good idea!"

They two of them walked into Tony's Lab, Kristina looked around confused, wondering when they got back onto this floor and ran up to the computer, "Let's take a photo!"

Ellie followed her over, "Yeah!"

Kristina started tapping on the keys, "He has like everything, there must be a camera around here somewhere."

"Let me help," Ellie insisted as she tried searching manually through the programs. They were there for a while before the computer dinged. They both raised their hands quickly and stepped back.

' _How about our daughter?'_

"That's my Mom!" Kristina exclaimed happily.

"Really?" Ellie asked.

' _What about Kristina?'_

"Who's that?"

"My Dad…"

' _She knows something is up."_

"They're talking about me," Kristina spoke, listening carefully to the words of her parents. Maybe she could find out why they aren't friends right now.

' _And?'_

' _Are you even listening to yourself right now?'_

"They don't sound very happy," Ellie observed sympathetically as she placed a gently hand on Kristina's shoulder.

' _I don't like lying to her, we should just tell her that we're going through something, she'll understand.'_

"Kristy, I don't think we should be listening to this…" Ellie said cautiously.

 _That is what I told her.'_

"No, I want to hear this," Kristina said softly.

' _But she looked devastated, I thought she was going to cry for a second.'_

"I wasn't going to cry," Kristina quickly imputed, looking at Ellie.

' _Why don't we just tell her the truth?'_

Kristina waited a few seconds, "The truth about what? What aren't they telling me?"

"Maybe we should go…" Ellie spoke again, trying to gently pull Kristina away

' _Maybe we should tell her that you are actually married to somebody else.'_

Kristina gasped, she felt her world stop right there. Her mom was married to somebody else? Did that mean her dad wasn't really her dad? Did she have a step dad? Was she going to move in with her Mom and her mom's husband? She jumped when an arm passed her and hit off the computer, she turned around and was face to face with Tony. She didn't know how much he heard, but he didn't tell her off for being in his office.

"Come on you two, how about we go down to the swimming pool," Tony suggested lightly, guiding the two girls out of his lab.

"I don't have a swimsuit," Ellie replied.

"We have spares, Pepper wasn't sure what size Kristina was, so she brought a selection-she hasn't had chance to return them yet."

"Tony… if my Mom is married… does that mean her and Dad aren't going to live with each other anymore?" Kristina looked up at him, not really wanting him to answer because she was afraid of what he would say. She didn't want to leave her Dad. Her head bowed down when he didn't answer and felt tears threatening to fall. She thought that when she found her real parents, it would be permanent-but it appeared that she could have been wrong.

* * *

 **Let me know what you think! Is that the reaction you expected from Clint? Thank you for reading :)**


	27. Chapter Twenty-six

**Author's note:**

 **41 followers, 23 favs and a total of 97 reviews; thank you to every single one of you who reads this story. You honestly do not know how much it means to me. Thank you to the four who reviewed the last chapter: discordchick, guest, keara park and Ninja0404 is a fanfiction geek. Now, enough chit-chat, here's the latest chapter.**

* * *

Tony, Kristina and Ellie walked into the pool room in silence. He retrieved the bag, upon seeing a two-piece swimsuit, he tossed it to one side, pleased that the rest were swimming costumes. he handed them to the two girls, "Here, there's a changing room through there. I'll wait out here for you." He said. He watched as Kristina sadly walked into the room with Ellie-maybe he should have answered her question, but he honestly did not know what to say.

* * *

Kristina was sitting on the edge of the swimming pool, she still couldn't get what her parents had said out of her head. Her Mom was married, to somebody who was not her Dad. What did that mean? How did they have her if they weren't married. She looked up stunned when she was splashed with water.

"Are you going to come in?" Ellie asked, splashing her again.

Kristina kicked her feet, failing to splash her back, "How deep is it?" she asked, looking at the water cautiously.

Ellie stopped and stood in the water, "It's to my shoulders here, it gets more shallow that way and deeper that way." She informed her pointing in the correct directions. "Come on in!" she encouraged.

Kristina slid in, trying to hold onto the side for as long as she could, she raised to the service and held onto the side, rubbing her face. "I'm in…"

"Come here," Ellie waved her hands. Kristina let go off the side and half walked into the shallow end, half towards Ellie. "Are you scared of the water?" she asked quietly when they were closer together.

"Me? Scared? No… my parents are superheroes, I'm not scared of anything," Kristina defended, her voice slightly shaky. "I may be scared of drowning though, I can't swim."

Ellie's hand wrapped around her arm and pulled her towards the edge, "Then why did you agree to swimming?"

Kristina shrugged, "I thought it was a good idea at the time." In reality, she hadn't been thinking much about the suggestion otherwise she would have said no.

"Smile, why don't we splash Mr Stark," Ellie suggested.

Kristina tried to smile, "Maybe in a bit."

"You're really upset about your Mom being married, aren't you?" Ellie asked with a small sigh.

"Yes because… if she's married to him, then either she's leaving or my Dad is leaving and then I'll never see them again," she stated dramatically.

Ellie looked at her confused, "Why won't you see them again?"

"Because I won't be living with them. If I don't live with them, I won't be able to see them anymore," Kristina looked down at the water, the ripples from their movements fading as they got further away.

"I don't live with my Dad and I see him all the time," Ellie informed her.

Kristina looked at her, "I didn't know that, I'm sorry. So you live with your Mom?"

Ellie shook her head, "No, my Mom isn't around, she died when I was a baby. I live with somebody else."

It was Kristina's turn to look confused, "So you don't live with either of your parents?"

Ellie shook her head, "No. It would be too dangerous to live with my Dad, he's always out saving the world or whatever he does. But he visits all the time, for my last birthday, he got me a puppy!"

Kristina smiled slightly, "You got a puppy? But don't you miss your Dad?"

Ellie nodded, "All the time." She paused, "But I know he loves me and that is all that matters."

Kristina smiled genuinely this time, "I know my Dad loves me, and so does my Mom." She looked at Tony, she wondered if he loved her too, she looked back at Ellie, "I have an idea."

"What idea?"

"We should splash Tony."

"Why?"

"Why not?"

They both looked over at him, he was playing on his tablet. He glanced up, "You both okay?"

"Let's do it," Ellie agreed.

* * *

Tony thought that Ellie and Kristina seemed to gravitate towards each other throughout the rest of the time she was there, it seemed that Ellie was a natural at making somebody happy-which was good because Tony apparently did not contain that ability with young girls. They had chatted a lot, from the glimpses of conversation that Tony had overheard, it was mainly about their respective parents.

Tony had received a text from Natasha informing him that Deadpool was on his way and to ask him if he could keep Kristina occupied for a little longer as she and Clint were talking. He agreed as he retrieved his tablet. He turned on all of his security, this would be a good test.

The girl had been out of the pool for about an hour when he turned up, both of their hairs were still wet and Ellie was plaiting Kristina's. He tripped an alarm as he entered through a window, but surprisingly he did not break it-it did mean he managed to open the window from the outside. He wrote a note to get that checked before turning his attention to the two girls saying goodbye to each other; he hoped that he would be able to keep Kristina's good mood after Ellie left. However, he could already see her expression souring.

Kristina pouted as she hugged Ellie, "Bye! Come back any time."

"Thanks, I had fun!" Ellie replied as they pulled back before she went over to her Dad, with one wave, they entered the elevator and left.

Tony clasped Kristina's shoulder, smiling down at her, "I am going to get you back from splashing me."

Kristina giggling, "Uh oh… it was all Ellie." She said slowly backing away before running out of the room.

"Not so fast," Tony called after her as he chased her, keeping a good distance behind her so she could get further away from him. He grinned as he watched her turn the right way, as he turned the corner, he pulled open a drawer and pulled out a water gun. He went a different route and cut her off, spraying her with water.

Kristina squealed in surprise as she skidded to a halt before turning around and running in the opposite direction, she skidded behind the couch.

Tony quickly swapped water guns-to a better one-and then jumped onto the couch, pointing downwards and attacking her from above. "You can run, but you can't hide!"

"No, but I _can_ beat you!" Kristina retorted before running off, straight out of the room.

Tony's face dropped as he realised exactly where she was going, he was supposed to be distracting her, "Shit." He muttered as he ran after her, surely he could catch a ten year old before she got to her parents-he was wrong. He entered the room right as Kristina literally dived onto Clint. He raised his hands with a laugh, "You taught her well." He back off soon after, leaving the small family to themselves-he hoped they would talk about the whole 'marriage' part.

* * *

Tony somehow found himself cooking dinner with Kristina a few hours later. He was unsure how the young girl could possibly be hungry, as she had pizza for lunch and had been snacking all day. But, nevertheless, he had been convinced to make dinner, and now he was concentrating on fitting as many potatoes onto the tray. He had people to do this for him-robots who could-and yet, he was still here.

"Tony," Kristina spoke, gaining his attention. "Are you always going to be here?" she questioned.

"In the kitchen? Probably not, it doesn't take that long to cook," Tony answered.

"No… I mean, are you going to leave me?"

Tony placed the tray in the oven before looking up at her, "Nobody's leaving, Kristina. What makes you ask that?"

"Everybody leaves, or I have to leave," Kristina replied as placed the measuring jug into the dishwasher. "One day, I'll never see you again."

Tony was confused about the whole conversation. They couldn't possibly be talking about the inevitability of dying; there had to be something else. He handed her a small towel to dry her hands with. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well…" Kristina started, holding onto the towel, "Nobody stays around for very long… I thought it would be different when I found my parents. You know, living in a house, staying in the same place, at the same school-keeping my friends instead of having to move away all the time."

"You have friends, Kate and Ellie," Tony reminded her.

Kristina shook her head, "I haven't seen Kate since that man tried to take me, and Ellie… I doubt I'll see her again. It's unlikely I'll see either of them again."

"Why?"

Kristina shrugged, "That always happens."

"Well, it's not going to happen this time," Tony promised her. "Firstly, I'm not going anywhere, and neither is your mom or dad. Secondly, you will see both Kate and Ellie again, okay? Your mom is friends with Ellie's dad and I know how to contact Kate's dad. So, let me know when you want to see her and I'll do my best to set it up. This situation isn't like your previous situations. You can trust that the people you know now and meet now; they aren't going away. Most importantly, your mom and dad won't be going anywhere."

"But they do go away, they go on missions. Sometimes they are gone for a really long time, and at the same time too," Kristina replied sadly. "You're always here though and I don't have to worry about you being married to somebody else-you have Pepper."

"Did you not ask them about what you heard?" Tony inquired.

Kristina shook his head, "You're not supposed to eavesdrop on people, it's rude." She looked down, kicking the floor lightly, "and I don't want to leave my dad to live with my mom and her husband."

Tony bent down to her level, "It is very unlikely that that is going to happen, I am sure there's an explanation about that. Your parents love you, very much; you have to be patient with them, they are not used to taking care of somebody else."

Kristina nodded slowly before stepping forward and hugging him tightly. Tony hugged her back.

* * *

Natasha huffed slightly as she sat down on the bed, she unzipped her boots and threw them into the corner, "We need to have a serious conversation about Kristina."

"Relax, don't take the stink-eye to heart. She's a kid; it's just a phase," Clint laughed. He was far too amused with the current situation. He pulled off his top and dropped it into the hamper.

"You're just happy because she's especially clingy towards you today," Natasha pointed out as she pulled of her top and threw it at him. He placed it in the hamper for her. "How many hugs did she give you?"

"Fourteen, and that doesn't include the snuggle I had with her on the couch," Clint replied whilst stripping down to his boxers-placing his clothes in the hamper-and sliding into the bed.

Natasha crossed around to the other side of the bed, removing her jeans before grabbing some PJs; she learnt the hard way to not sleep naked when in the same house as Tony, he had a habit of walking in unannounced. She stripped before slipping them on, "I can't think of what happened; do you think she didn't like me setting up a playdate?"

"Tasha, you don't need to analyse our daughter. She'll probably ignore me tomorrow and cling to you," Clint rationalised.

"No, something set her off and I am going to work out what," Natasha said determinedly as she climbed over Clint on the bed to get to her side of the bed and slipped under the covers, trying to think of what could have happened between those times. It seemed one moment they were fine, then they weren't. It must have been when Ellie first got there, she had asked Kristina what she wanted to do and then ended up pushing her away to get her to play with somebody she didn't know. "It was definitely the playdate. I didn't tell her about it and now she's angry."

"Just talk to her tomorrow about it, she'll forgive you," Clint told her as he switched off the lamp by his head and slid down into the bed.

Natasha looked at him, he had forgiven her and everything had been swept under the rug for the time-being. When they did go on the weekend away, everything would be up in the air, but right now, all was good. He had forgiven her. And he expected that Kristina would too, without question. But, she knew that it wasn't normal to forgive so easily, especially certain things-most people would walk out and never look back if they found out that their… what were they? Partners? Boyfriend and girlfriend? Friends with benefits? Whatever they were, if one of them found out that the other was married, they would be out the door without even looking back-but not Clint, he forgave and they came to an agreement. But Natasha knew inwardly that there was nothing that Clint could do that would make her walk; she'd always forgive him too.

Although, just because they had this arrangement, didn't mean that Kristina would be one to easily forgive and forget-Natasha would have to actually make it up to her. But that would have to wait until tomorrow. There was something else she wanted to discuss with Clint before they went to sleep.

She leant over Clint and turned on the lamp on his side before moving back and sitting on the bed facing him, "We still need to talk about Kristina."

Clint looked at her, "What about her? She's fine."

"About her education," Natasha informed him, that made him sit up. "We need to think of something more permanent for her, so regardless of where we are in the world, her education will remain consistent."

"She's already got a school, I'll look for a new house soon. It's summer; there's no rush," Clint responded lazily. It wasn't even that late, but Natasha was also feeling tired-then again, it may be because she hadn't been truly relaxed until Clint decided he would sleep in the same bed as her. She just couldn't seem to sleep properly when he wasn't there.

"That school is over four hours from here, if anything happens to either of us or we need an immediate babysitter or something-the location is undesirable. Also, it's not the best school in the country," Natasha evaluated.

"You've been talking to Stark; we're not sending her to a boarding school," Clint stated firmly.

Natasha shook her head, "That is not what I was suggesting. Her friend, Kate, attends a school in New York; Hawthorne's Academy. It's a brilliant school, it's not too far from here and there's loads of lovely, safe neighbourhoods within a thirty minute drive-especially if the speed limit is negotiable."

Clint looked at her, "You want to live in New York?"

"It's the best location, Stark lives here for any emergency. Steve and Falcon both live in New Jersey, you used to live here when you were married to Bobbi-so you know the area," Natasha listed. "And there's a dojo near to the school where Kristina can learn to defend herself."

"No, I want her to have a normal upbringing," Clint instantly insisted.

"Clint, she's not going to have a normal upbringing, both of her parents are _spies_. We are in the news on a regular basis, her picture is going to get out-it's probably already out in certain circles. We can't be there to protect her 24/7… and we can't keep her locked in, because that's definitely not letting her live a normal life," Natasha rationalised. "As she gets older she's going to want to…" she paused as she tried to remember what normal teenagers did, "Go to parties, sneak into clubs, go skinny dipping… and meet up with random guys. We can't leave her defenseless and we can't put a tracker on her."

"We need to put a tracker on her," Clint stated.

"Agreed, but the rest of what I said still stands," Natasha responded firmly. Putting a tracker on Kristina would be very helpful, she could have a certain level of freedom whilst being protected.

Clint sighed slightly, "It makes sense." He admitted and after a few moments of thought, "I will research the school and area around it. Okay?"

Natasha nodded, slightly relieved that he agreed. It was the best way to keep things stable for Kristina. Additionally, she noticed how close Tony and Kristina had become. He really took on the uncle role perfectly...it was sweet. Having him as a permanent babysitter, the tower a place where Kristina was used to going on a regular basis would be easier and wouldn't raise suspicion if anything did go wrong. Also, Hawthorne's Academy wasn't too far away, so it didn't matter too much if she had school the next day. She turned off her lamp after Clint turned off his and then snuggled up to him; she was thankful that he didn't comment on it and just wrapped his arms around her securely. It only took seconds before she faded into a much needed peaceful sleep.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading :)**


	28. The Final Chapter

**Author's Note:**

 **I am going to start this like I would any other chapter. Thank you everybody for your support, favs, follows and reviews. A shout out to those who reviewed my previous chapter; Sanctuaria, keara park and discordchick.**

* * *

Natasha and Clint worked together seamlessly, just like they had several times; they approached finding a new home, checking out schools, arranging a new life like they would a mission. They had researched the area of their house, routes to Kristina's new school and other key areas; such as a child-friendly dojo and Stark Tower. The transcripts for Kristina had been completed and sent, the house viewed and purchased, the furnishings chosen and put in. They had even found suggestions of where they could go for the weekend away; a secluded place so they didn't have to be quiet when they would inevitable fight, but not too far away as neither of them fancied the travelling.

All they had forgotten over the five days of planning all of that, was Kristina. Nobody had brought up the fact that Natasha was or had been married-not that they knew Kristina or Tony were aware of that fact-or about their plans with moving her school and house. Kristina had spent a lot of time with Tony, and seemed to favour Clint over Natasha-which she definitely noticed. But both Clint and Natasha spent a lot of time with Kristina, both together and apart; they just didn't realise that they had to inform her of their plans. They weren't used to sharing with anybody else apart from each other and even that took a lot of work.

Tony-who had assisted with the furnishing of the place-suggested that they talk to Kristina about moving. Natasha and Clint had shared a short look before offering a sharp nod, the two superspies were not going to admit that they hadn't thought about that.

* * *

"Am I in trouble?" Kristina asked, looking between her parents, she racked her mind to think about what she was in trouble for. Did they know she had snuck out at 2am and drank a glass of milk? Of course they knew, they were superheroes. "I can explain, I was just really thirsty and I didn't think you would mind."

Clint tilted his head to the side, "Huh?" he asked confused.

"This isn't about you getting yourself a glass of milk, Kristina," Natasha responded calmly. "We wanted to talk to you about something important."

Kristina glanced between them, her first thought was that they were going to give her back like all of the other families; they changed their minds and she wasn't a good fit.

"In light of what has happened recently, we have decided that you should attend a school in New York…"

"What?" Kristina interrupted her Dad. She was moving schools again? But they lived miles away from New York, how early would she have to wake up? "Why?" she questioned after a second.

"We have decided it would be easier if we lived in New York, keeping closer to Tony and providing you with a better chance at consistency," Clint answered clearly.

"So… I'll be living with you two?" Kristina asked, trying to work out exactly what they were telling her. Maybe she should listen in on their conversations, then she might not be so confused right now.

"Of course, we're not going to live in Stark Tower forever, it is more of a summer vacation place," Clint replied with a smile.

Kristina looked at her mother, who was being quiet-not that that was unusual. "So…" she paused, trying to think of the right words. "I'm not going to live with Mom and her husband and never see you again?" she asked Clint.

Shock registered on both of her parents face, Natasha's especially-which was even more unusual. "How do you know about that?" Natasha asked her firmly.

Kristina gulped, uh oh, she was definitely in trouble now. She visibly hesitated and said the first thing that popped in her head, hoping it would help her, "Tony knows too."

"I'm going to kill him," Natasha spoke seriously, with a shake of her head. "I am not married, I _was_ married. It is in the past and doesn't change anything right now."

Kristina looked down, "But… you married him and you didn't marry Dad… doesn't that mean you don't love Dad as much?"

"Your Dad used to be married to somebody else, but that doesn't change how he feels about us," Natasha informed her.

Kristina's head snapped up, her mouth open in shock, "What? Why is everybody marrying random people!"

"Really Tasha, you had to tell her that?" Clint asked, groaning in annoyance. He ran a hand over his face before looking at her, "It was a really long time ago, I married her before I met your mother…"

"And I married him before I met your father, although my relationship was officially over," Natasha imputed.

" _I_ told you about my relationship with-"

"You did not tell me! I found out four month _after_ we'd met," Natasha interrupted him.

Kristina looked between her parents, she had fallen silent as it seemed that her parents were fighting-they were having an argument about past relationships. And it seemed like they weren't explaining themselves to her, but… next time, she's not going to bring up anything, she'll let them decide on the topics, "What's my new school?" She asked in an attempt to change the subject, she didn't want her parents to fight.

"You didn't have the clearance level, I didn't know you…"

"How is it any different? You didn't tell me about being married to Bobbi and I didn't tell you about being married to Alexi-doesn't that make us even?" Natasha asked.

The disbelief on Clint's face was evident, "That is completely different, you lied for _years_ …"

"Wait… Stop!" Kristina shouted, gaining her parents attention, "Bobbi? As in, Aunt Bobbi? You were married to her?"

Her parents stared at her silently, no emotion on either of their faces for long moments before Clint spoke, "Yes." He confirmed.

"I don't get it, why were you married to her?" Kristina asked, honestly not understanding why both of her parents seemed to have married other people. She thought that you could only marry somebody once and then that was it.

"When you're older, you'll understand," Clint informed her simply.

Natasha swatted him on the arm, "Kristina, it is possible to love more than one person. And there are different types of love. I love you and your father differently, just like I loved my husband. However, just because you loved somebody and were married to them, doesn't change how you feel about the people in your life."

"So… one day you might not love me?"

Natasha smiled softly, pulling Kristina up and onto her lap, "No, that will never happen. I will always love you, you can't get rid of a bond between mother and daughter; it's impossible."

Kristina hugged her Mom back, tightly, she wanted to ask more questions but at the same time, she didn't want to. Right now, things were good, and she didn't even want to think about her Dad being married to Bobbi, that was just confusing.

"We still need to talk about moving," Clint reminded them a good five minutes later.

* * *

Kristina sniffled slightly when it came to the moving day, she had accumulated a total of three extra bags of things since moving in with Tony. She had packed her things and then unpacked three times. She didn't want to take it all with her, because she was hopeful that she would come back-but on the other hand, there was no guarantee, despite what her parents said she might never see Tony again. She repacked her bags and picked them up, carrying them into the main room and placing them neatly in the corner. Checking her watch, she knew she had just under an hour until they were scheduled to leave.

After looking around, wanting to memorise as much as possible, she looked for Tony; finding him in the kitchen digging through the fridge. "Tony…"

He turned around and smiled at her, "Hey kiddo, are you ready to move?"

Kristina shook her head, "No." He straightened up but before he was able to respond, she interrupted him. "I don't want to leave," she admitted, stepping forward and holding onto him tightly. It took a few long seconds before he returned the hug.

"Kristina, where is this coming from?" Tony asked her lightly.

"I… I like it here," Kristina replied eventually. She pulled back, "I really, _really_ like it here."

Tony handed her a handkerchief, "You are going to be living thirty minutes away. Trust me when I say, you are likely to be over here all the time."

Kristina dabbed her eyes, which were sprinkled with tears, "You promise?"

"I promise," Tony replied simply. "Now, no crying, today is a happy day."

Kristina nodded, "Okay… can I talk to you about something?" She asked, tilting her head to the side as she handed him back the handkerchief.

"Of course, fire away."

"Firstly," Kristina said, trying to remember the list of things she wanted to say to him. She was determined to remember. "You are not allowed, under any circumstance, to marry either of my parents. Got it?"

"Either?"

"That's right, you are not allowed my Dad or Mom! Got it?" Kristina stated firmly.

"Yes ma'am," Tony said, a mocking smile on his lips.

Kristina nodded, she was happy with that reply, "Next, you have to _promise_ to put a stop to anybody who tries to split my parents up. Got it?"

"Yes ma'am!" Tony replied with a salute, acting very serious.

"And finally," Kristina continued, with absolutely seriousness on her face. "I need to borrow your phone."

Tony tilted his head as a small laugh left his mouth, he unlocked and held out his phone, "Who do you need to call?" he inquired.

"My Dad's ex-wife. My phone has been blocked from calling anybody but Mom and Dad, but I have her number saved," Kristina informed him as she wandered over to the couch. She didn't mention the 'red button' she had in case of emergency, as she wasn't entirely sure who that would connect her to-she didn't want to be accidentally call the police. She was glad that he let her and didn't take his phone back. She looked up the number and it took her a while to work out how to actually dial on Tony's phone, but she worked it out.

"Morse," came the cautious voice.

"Bobbi, it's Kristina," she stated seriously.

"Hey Kristina, I didn't expect to hear from you; is this a new number of your Dad's?" she asked kindly.

Kristina shook her head, "No, it's Tony's phone. But we have to talk about something."

"What's that sweetie?"

"I hear that you were married to my Dad," Kristina informed her, she continued speaking, not giving Bobbi enough time to respond. "And I am here to tell you that you can't have him. He loves my Mom and they will be getting married and you will never be my Mom, you are my Aunty Bobbi. Got it?"

"Uh.. Got it," Bobbi replied hesitantly.

"And Bobbi," Kristina started.

"Yes Kristina?"

"Are you going to visit when we move into the new house?" She asked, her voice more innocent and normal now she wasn't acting over-protective.

There was silence over the phone for a few seconds, "Of course. Maybe in a few weeks, work is really busy right now."

"Okay, it's just it has been a really long time," Kristina informed her. "And I…"

"Kristina, who are you talking to?" Clint asked, appearing behind her.

Kristina spun around, "Uhh… your ex-wife." She looked at his hand which was held out and with a sigh handed the phone over.

"Hello? Hey Bobbi," Clint said with a sigh, he gave Kristina a pointed look before walking off with the phone. "What did you two talk about?"

Kristina watched him leave before looking back at Tony, "You could have distracted him or warned me."

Tony chuckled, "Sorry kiddo, he snuck up on me too."

Kristina tilted her head at him, she knew he was lying but didn't mention it any further. "One more water fight?" She asked.

Tony grinned, his hand slipped behind the couch and pulled out a water gun, "I thought you'd never ask."

Kristina's eyes widened, "How many of them do you have hidden?" She asked, however, before she finished her question, she felt the water spray across her stomach. She turned and ran.

* * *

Kristina walked into the new house after her parents, she followed them. She had had loads of new homes over the course of her life, and every time she hated it. She hated moving. However, this wasn't hyped up like it had been in the past, she wasn't expected to act a certain way or meet anybody new. Looking around, she realised she didn't actually mind moving this time, it was all actually really exciting, a new house, new garden, new room; but the same people, and that made it amazing. "Which is my room?" she asked, not even bothering to hide her excitement.

"Upstairs, second door on the left," Clint answered.

She didn't wait for permission-as she knew she didn't need it-before running up the stairs and into the room they said. A gasp of amazement left her as she looked around the room, this one was bigger than her previous one. Also, she had a bed and matching furniture.

"Do you like it?" Her mother asked from behind her.

Kristina spun around and nodded with a massive smile on her face, "Yeah! This is the best room I have _ever_ had."

"It is a pretty neat room," Natasha agreed as she placed Kristina's things on the floor. "How about you unpack, dinner will be in about an hour, okay?"

Kristina nodded as she began opening all of the drawers to see that they had her clothes from the previous house; she didn't think a small thing like being able to keep her old clothes would make her squeal, but it did.

* * *

Natasha walked down from her daughter's room after placing hers and Clint's bags into their bedroom, "What's for dinner? I told Kristina an hour."

"Spaghetti Bolognese," Clint answered as he continued to pack away the groceries they had brought on the way, adding an hour onto their journey. Which may have been the longest it had taken either Natasha or Clint to shop in the past. "Does she like her room?"

Natasha nodded as she began helping him, "She was ecstatic, nice choice." As she put the milk away, she turned to him, "You haven't responded yet." She didn't need to elaborate, he knew what she was talking about.

"I know you are right, it's just… she's a little girl, I want her to remain a child," He responded softly.

"And I want her to be _safe_ , she'll still be the same little girl… just one who knows how to fight and defend herself," Natasha commented before closing the fridge. "I've heard a lot of children her age learn karate, that could be a good starting point and wouldn't be out of the ordinary."

"Where did you hear that?" Clint questioned lightly as he placed the pasta on the shelve and closed the door.

"Read it online," Natasha answered, revealing that she had done research on this matter, she was not going to lose this argument. She smiled as she saw on his face that she had won.

"No weapons trainings," Clint negotiated.

Natasha nodded, "Just hand to hand combat."

With a firm nod from him, it had been decided, they had already discussed where she would go if they-meaning Clint-allowed it. Natasha walked off to make the call and arrangements, leaving Clint to make dinner.

* * *

It was all surreal for the first couple of weeks of living in the new home, Kristina wasn't at school yet and filling up the days was a challenge on occasion. Kristina ended up going to two different fighting classes; karate and krav Maga. She successfully made friends there, which was good, as that gave Natasha and Clint time alone; they both decided to not go on any missions until Kristina was back in school and had a more stable schedule. So far, they ensured that she saw either Ellie or Kate during the week, which Tony mainly arranged; giving him a chance to see her weekly.

The summer flowed into autumn gracefully as Kristina started her new school; which she was over the moon about, as that meant seeing Kate on a daily basis. They were determined to keep Kristina's visits to Tony's constant but slightly random, so if there was an emergency, it wouldn't raise any alarm bells when she went there.

Natasha wished she could have kept to the plan of easing back into missions and S.H.I.E.L.D, however, the third day of Kristina at school she left, and returned three days later only slightly injured-she wondered if taking on twelve goons at one time was consisted as 'easing into it'. Her missions quickly returned to how they used to be, but she never left for longer than a week; the only difference between now and before she had to consider Kristina, was now she got missions done quicker-it had only improved her. Clint however, had slowed, his missions were done with more consideration. Firstly there were hardly ever high risk and secondly they usually did not last more than a few hours.

Nobody could say that they lived happily ever after, but for Kristina, it was definitely a fairytale happy ending and for the first time looked forward to what the rest of her life might bring.

* * *

 **The end. Seriously. Roll end credits!**

 **I want to give a massive thank you and shout out to my good friend and beta; Sanctuaria. She is literally amazing and I would not have even wrote the sequel to Second Chance of a Family (if I even finished it). Check out her stories, she has mainly Huntingbird ones, but they are truly amazing. So finally, thank you so much!**

* * *

 **Well, this _is_ a Marvel Fanfiction, so I suppose I'll give you all an end credits scene. I'm nothing by authentic. **

* * *

Clint looked at his daughter, her expression determined and controlled, matching his own expression, "I cannot believe you went behind my back-"

"I did not go behind your back," Kristina replied strongly. "Technically, I shouldn't have told you at all, confidentiality and all. But I got permission and I wanted you to hear it from me."

"Kristina-"

"No, Dad. You cannot dictate my entire life, you knew I wanted to join, it was only a matter of time. We both know that, so don't act shocked or betrayed," Kristina interrupted him.

Clint took a deep breath as he shook his head, "Can't you be a teacher or choose a safer job?"

"No," Kristina replied simply. "I take after my parents, after all."

Clint sighed again. "More like your mother," he muttered. As Kristina laughed, he finally cracked a smile since Kristina told him the newest and probably biggest news since she was born; at least in her opinion. "Speaking of your mother-"

"She already knows. Seriously, I am surprised you didn't find out too; guess you lost your touch," Kristina teased. Clint laughed in response and Kristina took his good mood to ask, "Are you mad at me?"

Clint's smile remained on his face, "Actually, I'm proud. Growing prouder every day. I did hope that you wouldn't follow your mother and I into S.H.I.E.L.D.; but you're right, it was inevitable."

"Glad you understand!" Kristina beamed.

"You know, sometimes I forget that you're an adult, I can't believe you're already 21," Clint admitted.

"Nearly 22," Kristina reminded him, a massive smile on her own face.

Clint groaned, "Don't remind me, I'm not ready for my little girl to grow up. Can't you go back to being a child?"

"Sorry, doesn't work that way Dad," Kristina informed him with a laugh. "Just think, someday I may go on a mission with you!"

"Nope, definitely not ready for you to grow up," Clint said suddenly after her words set in. "Definitely not- You sure you don't want to teach?"

* * *

 **Bye**


End file.
